Letchumi’s Citizenship

By Lynn Ockersz

‘You are free of your chains’,

They told her in nineteen eighty seven,

‘Since now you have been given,

Your long overdue citizenship crown’,

But this grand title means nothing,

In practical terms, we may say,

Since the Kangany’s painful diktat,

Continues to descend on her frame,

In the lonesome, expansive valley,

Where she continues to labour,

And have her solitary being,

Eking out an existence on a pittance,

But she’s not alone in her travails,

Since Somalatha in yon garment factory,

Knows none of dignity as well,

Since citizenship has thus far been availed,

Only by those in the state’s driving seat.