A winter night: A poem by Jayashree Pillai

The night is shrouded
In plumes of mist
That float around hiding shame.
Warm hearths
Lie oblivious of the shriveled figures
That sit crouched around
A wayside fire,
Choking its way
To live through the night.
The shame of letting walls grow
Between the insiders and the outsiders -
The mist covers it all.
And so the night seems
To be at peace, -
A brittle peace though.
There is hunger raging
Within those half-naked figures.
Perhaps the chilly night
With its diabolic fangs
Will suck their breath out.