While we stay at home, safe and sound,
Many distant migrants are home bound.
They are starving, baffled and at a loss,
Will they be ever able to reach home abroad?

Their clothes are bashful and shabby,
It’s been weeks they haven’t been fed fully.
Bent down, exhausted, they still try to trod homewards,
At home is waiting their wife, sons and daughters.

With few pennies in their pockets and sacks on their backs,
They keep walking through forests and along the railway tracks.

Not a moment to rest or spare,
Not a moment to stand and stare.
Always a dread preoccuping their minds,

Can they reach home fit and fine?
These destitute migrants are home bound,
While at home, we sit safe and sound.
                                                                   ~ Manisha Roy

                                                                     Kolkata, India