Innocence Lost

This one speaks of a different strata of society ...a victim of circumstances.. an innocent soul dirtied by society ....Fate '.......

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On a cold foggy December night
Was born another child of India
He lay by his mother's bed
The room was dirty
The bed-sheet soiled ....
But little John didn't care
He was by his mother's side.



The days turned to night
And the weeks and months passed by,
He could walk and talk now...
the little One ....
The innocent child of India.



As He grew He soon found out
He wasn't the same as others around..
He wondered why .... He wondered how...
His father was never around.
He asked His mom , He asked her again
Where His father was ...
She couldn't reply..
She couldn't tell her dearest Son
That she was all He ever Had
That she didn't know who
His father was .



Little John's mother dreamt...
Not for herself... But for her Son
She saved all she earned,
Worked day and night for her only Son
She sent the Innocent One to primary school
She dreamt and dreamt that He would one day ..
Relieve her of all her pain,sorrow and wound
Hold a dignified corporate job ........
And all their troubles would be gone .


But Fate had other things planned .....
For mother and her begotten Son
The mother fell ill one day
And she wasn't to recover
Left the child ..Without support
To stand alone .


Little John's world came crashing down.....
Where was he to go now ?
What was he to do ..
When he'd lost the only person He ever knew .
Those days were tough..
After Independence ..
And little Indian town's like John's
Didn't have place for orphaned ones.



The still innocent child,
Roamed the streets.. in wide eyed wonder
And the only thing he still had ,
Was what was within Him .......
His heart ,His soul,His innocence ..
Which was soon to be no more !



One day the boy found a man,
That went by the name of Uncle Sam,
Who gave homeless kids like Him
jobs to do ... and a place to live.
He was wealthy .. He took Him in .
And made Him realise the jobs to do ..
And ways to do it in !



Soon the boy ,like others of Sam's clan...
Went about stealing ,robbing ....
And breaking bones .. with sticks and stones.
It wasn't little John's fault .....
What was he to do ?
After-all it was cruel Fate
That had made him a tool.



The years flew by and..
Little John was little no more.
Over the years.. He had climbed the ladder
In uncle Sam's clan .....
And had eventually become.. his right hand man .



But still John thought... of His childhood days
And the time He spent under His mother's loving care
And what He was now ..A shadow of what was to be...
Of Hope turned Despair .... A self betrayed ..
And wanted to change ... And regain ..
His lost innocence.



He wanted to leave ,He thought he still had time ...
To change ..To become the man his departed mother,
Had always wanted Him to be.
"This place is dead for me" - He said .
But alas ,before He knew ,
The law ..caught up with Uncle Sam, his clan ...
And their crimes.....


On the day of the trial ,
before a packed courtroom ....
Sat John, He would be made to answer ..
For His sins pretty soon .


Before the judge read out the sentence
He asked John ,"Do you have anything to say ? "
John just smiled ... and replied ,..
"It wasn't me Sir ...
It was Fate ....
That took my innocence away ! "