School Master

We stopped at the nearby village.
At the tea-stall, tea did not taste like tea.
Even tea does not survive in bad water.
We asked the chainmail, is there any dawakhana, any pathshala?
There was none.
There were children, loitering rather aimlessly.
Their eyes said,“Don’t look at us like that. We are not really bekars.”
My companion said nothing.
He simply looked around blankly.
Some quiet moments passed by.
Then he said,” I want to live here.”
I asked: What for, what will you do  here?
He said, “I shall open a school.
I will do what I can.
You will do what you can.
Our day will start with morning prayers.
You will sing.
And we shall tell the bekars,
they are as good as they think they are.
Together we shall dream.
Will you be with me my companion?”
I told my companion of forty years, I will be with you as always, my school master.