Poetry 2018 Longlist, Anurag Sharma

Hunger

Seeing a kid stealing a rotten tomato,
Seeing a mother selling her body to feed her kids,
Seeing someone looking at food with tears in the eyes,
My head hangs in shame all the time,
A society dies, when due to hunger someone cries,
Everyone has a stomach to feed to survive,
This technological advancement has no meaning left,
This never ending rat race can never be at rest,
When a life ends without something to feed,
A food is wasted in protests,
A food is thrown away in parties,
What if that food reaches the empty stomach?
What if we start to care about the people in despair?
All these developments are void when to someone food is devoid,
Which god would be happy when someone dies of hunger outside synagogue?
Humanity is not about offering foods to the gods,
It’s about serving that food to the ones, who need,
Let’s come together and take oath as an individual and as a society as whole,
That we won’t let anyone die hungry,
We won’t waste food that is unnecessary,
Our gods will be happier when we serve the food to his people.
When we worship our first and foremost religion,
The religion of humanity!