Not so glad that you were born

This is a story
Not of any girl next door.
She wanted to read
But could study no more.

Alas, poor was her family
Finances were all sore
Dad was idle sans a job
And mom did other houses' chore

Why to teach a girl at all
We don't feel no need for that
All you should is help mom in work
On her face, dad told her flat

Mom wanted her girl to learn
Child to be someone in life
Respect, name, fame to earn
And not just spend her days in strife

But all she had was thorns in store
School was a distant dream to seek
Married she was, a girl she bore
Whose future was no less bleak

And thus the story starts afresh
Not of any girl next door.
She wanted so much to read
But, as they say, she could study no more.

Chirag Jain (IIM-Calcutta)