She plays alone with her dolls
Surrounded by four grim grey walls
She canters alone, she smiles alone
sometimes she even talks alone

The latest in toys is always at home
A cat with luminous eyes grey
a monkey that chatters incessantly away
A gun that goes ta-ta-ta when you press the trigger
a bear that couldn't have been bigger

But still she is alone, she wants to have her way
with other children she wants to play
But no her mother says beware
they are not good children, they don't comb their hair
Whole day they play the fool
splashing about in the muddy pool
And what's more, they don't even ever go to school!

But she doesn't care, she wants to have her way
with other children, she wants to play
She wants to tug at their curly tresses
To show off to them, her frilly dresses
To play hide-n-seek and chor police too
‘I spy you’ and ring-a-ring-a-roses too

Trapped, she stands in her balcony sill
till the sun dips into the sea to the full
Slowly she gets down from her stool
The breeze on her tears is so cool

She plays alone with her dolls
surrounded by four grim grey walls
Dinesh Raheja