tiny silhouette...small footprints

small footprints on the mud track
move uphill laboriously
the deep impressions implying a huge burden
on tiny shoulders barely big
enough to carry a petite head
the setting sun indicating
that indeed it must have been a long
tiring day, and
a long gruesome journey
impressions of small drops of sweat -
dried-up under the still scorching sun -
provide evidence of immense effort
then...
...the silhouette
of a child
- young enough to be cradled
in loving arms of a mother, or
father
- nimble enough to tread the chalk-imprinted
rectangles of hop-scotch
- innocent enough to plead for sugar-laden
sweets and chocolates
crumbling under the stack of firewood,
dragging heavily towards the hut
still some distance away.

i shed a well-fed tear, and
quickly retreated in shame...
in cowardice...
of leaving a helpless angel
to fend itself
...from...
a ridicule of a word called humanity