(Photo: John W. Fountain)
Without complaint
and with no detectable frown,
the children here carry water
in the evenings after school.
I see them:
Little boys and little girls
with sunbaked skin
and innocent brown eyes
with assorted filled bottles
and buckets
lifted high
carried on their heads
with apparent ease
along these red dirt
and sand-laden rugged streets.
It is routine here
Not an unfamiliar sight:
children
and women
fetching water
at day
and at night.
And yet, the children smile…
-JOHN W. FOUNTAIN