I wrote this poem for 4th Standard children 15 years ago!
Yellow, white, green and blue Myriad hues we have, we do
Dancing gleefully in the sunshine
The restless clothes on the clothesline
Every house must have one
In the backyard welcoming the sun
Or even in balconies, tiny
Coaxing sunny rays in, wistfully
Shirts, pants, kameez and bedsheets
Flipping in joy in the breeze
Bobbing their heads teasing each other
Till clouds gather, Oh bother!
In they go crammed on a stand
In a dark room under the fan “This is not fun”, says Sari
Others agree quietly, feeling sorry
No house can secrets keep
A clothesline will always leak
Are you rich or are you poor
Clothes will tell, for sure
Ah! Naughty boys in there
Dainty girls too, who wear
Pink frilly frocks, which dare
To play ‘Tangle’ with a socks pair
Strange clothes are these
Guests from afar, Oh I see!
Teeny Weeny clothes, a baby?
Come to stay awhile, maybe
Some houses are a mystery
Since clotheslines are history
They believe in a machine with a dryer
And keeping to themselves forever
Like the clothesline the world needs
To keep no secrets or bad deeds
To be open, free and gay
And to live together, day after day.
So sweetly written lovely