THE GLASS KIDS OF FIROZABAD

LINDA ASHOK

I once told a woman

wearing shiny glass bangles

 
that she looked scary. She turned

at me curious and offended.

 
She was eager to know and I, eager to show—

On one hand, I traced a sad boy’s face

 
on the other, I unearthed a girl,

almost dead, with one eye pushed deep

into the socket and stitched.

 
Terrified, she looked at her husband

She took off all those bangles

 
And as they broke, they released

the spirits of glass kids

 
One bangle wheeled across

the road at the feet of an old lady

 
throwing balls for her pup to catch.

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