Take the Bully by the Beard

Country: India
Item type: Poem
Line count: 40
Prompt followed: Quotation prompt:
"When a resolute young fellow steps up to the great bully, the world, and takes him boldly by the beard, he is often surprised to find it comes off in his hand, and that it was only tied on to scare away the timid adventurers." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

He had his backpack safely on
His helmet, firm and tight
He rode his trusty motorcycle
Down the track to the right.

Passing mud huts in a row
Perhaps a goat or two
Chickens, clucking in his path
Flowers of every hue.

Suddenly the young man stopped
He'd heard something unexpected
Someone crying? Who? Why?
Had to be investigated.

He found her, squatting in the lane
And asked what made her sad
"I've been beaten," she replied
"Because I have been bad."

She sobbed the story bit by bit
To his listening ear,
She had asked to worship at the temple
And was told not to go near.

"I'm Scheduled Caste," she confessed
"Not allowed to pray
But you know, I help my father
Carve the idols each day."

"Don't worry, little one."
He put her on his bike,
Together they rode to the temple
The fellow and the tyke.

The lone priest there was shocked
When he saw the little face
"Hey! Don't let her in
She'll pollute the place!"

"She helped make the Gods inside
And her heart is pure
If this becomes a fight, priest
I'll beat you for sure."

The priest looked up and saw
The young hands clenched, jaw set
"Of course the child can enter,
Come on, little one, in you get!"