A Secondary School Classroom in a Posh Slum - A Poem

They flock into the classroom bedraggled and lost,

Clothes that are slept in, pyjamas and tee-shirts

Crumpled and crushed. Their jaws movie in unison 

As they chump on chewing gum, the flavour too 

Valuable to discard. The privileged few they are,

A generation pampered and spoiled by pelf and wealth.

After a class that starts so sure, a few moments later, they

Cry for help. They find the lessons unfair to bear, that calls

On them to focus on things so vague. Alas! What was so

Clear became so vague even as they try to drag their minds

From a party so cool! The music echoes in their mind till now.

They lack the strength to focus on things so sure, minds so

Fogged by party so late - the gum they chew would hide

The  food they ate. They lack the time to brush their teeth! 

Their faces do bear the brunt of night so late, to wash their

Faces would rob them of kisses to share. Thus they gossip 

Of night so late, even as the lesson does pace.

Of late night conquests they' d rather share,  than answer the

Questions that for lessons do matter. Alas to come school 

Would only mean, to share  exploits of night so late. And as

They open their tiffins to eat, smells of stale ham and rancid

Cheese does waft, food so bad minds to stall, all in a class that

The privileged could have. Spoiled children do waste their time,

They swim in scent so sharp, even as they gossip of

Late nights conquests that drowned their share. Of

Adventure so bold they cast about, for gleanings in

Class to take, and even as those do learn, to spoil

The lives of those who cared. And so the noise does

Increase for sure, a class that descends into chaos for sure!

 If only they'd the hunger to learn,

I'd be rewarded for calling them to care, my throat does rasp

From pleading for calm. Alas! I call aloud in vain! And so they flirt

With one another e'en as time does fly, and as the boards so

Near do loom, in panic to washroom do flee! And in the

Corridors do measure their pace, if only someone to share.

If money can buy success and love, who cares a hoot

For exams to boot! If only they'd know the  world so real

Where death doth defy dime of gold, and love does ditch

Pride and swagger. If only they'd burst their bubbles asunder,

My hat I'd lift to greet the thunder. Tear o tear walls asunder,

That hide from them the world of wonder.

Take them out to learn to fall but rise,  despair to hope

  Turn bitter to sweet and grief to joy! Let them see streams so

Clear, trees so green, fruits so ripe, and birds so bright.

Tear, o tear, walls that hide a world so rich from those who

Dream of tin-can worlds, with love so fake and food so stale!

If only they'd look at the real world, to live a hope a star to shine.

Alas! They loll and play, slouch and grouch, meet and

Greet - friends parted an hour or less. They are Kings 

And Queens of fantasy world who rule the roost and

Order the boot. Unlucky heirs of pride and vanity, they

 Rush to unburden the food that so late at night they ate,

Washroom meeting ground does make for minds that drift.

The creme de la creme studying in a secondary school

Classroom in a posh slum, alas, know naught of the world out there! 

Of manners or etiquettes and deportment they know naught, but 

Chew on gum and talk so loud, as they share their exploits to all. 

The food they ate, the drink they had, the trip they made

 Is what they share, of lesson who cares, when a party is nigh!