Humble salute !
I encountered two school uniformed and boys
on their squeaking bicycles,
perhaps with unoiled chains.
One was small on a rather smaller bicycle.
The other, I hardly noticed.
He passed through me like a current of young age.
The small one saluted to an Army jawan
weilding a functioning gun,
unlike the weapon of a local police.
The man in camouflage was deployed
at the end of the street for the election duty.
The child’s salute was returned with a rugged smile.
How come I did not do?
Perhaps the absence of childlike delight
prevented a humble salute !
