Poem 54#

•••••
It was a usual day,
With the moon shining by the purple skies,
Maa smiling with me, resting by the window pane,

‘The moon is more closer if you see, my dandelion”

“How, maa?” It’s so far away, like papa!!”

“It is right in here”
Her cold fingers quivered under the night, took my little ones and rested them on my heart,

“Now close your eyes” she said,

“But if I close them, how will I see my moon!!”

“Oh you silly girl, your innocent eyes cannot capture infinity, for that you need the vision of your heart”

she then giggled,
like a naive child
Under the moon’s radiant light,
her eyes gleamed with delight,
she beamed like the full moon

And in that moment, I realised maa had lied,
Maybe eyes could capture infinity

••••••
Later that night,
She fed me dried raisins and stale roti,
Then a glass of salty milk,
Tear stained, her lips were sealed,
Silently, I swallowed it in.

She ignited the oil lamp,hollow and dark.
Her rhuemey eyes had lost its shine,
Small and dim, the light,
it was empty inside.

She told me stories about the moon,
told me how i must act strong from henceforth,
Later hummed “tujhse naraaz nahi zindagi” until I fell asleep in her arms
But during that warm tranquil night,
I felt her cold lips kiss my hair,

“Goodbye, my dandelion, stay strong,
Mama will miss you”
•••••••

The letter was hidden behind papa’s razor box,
the paper had many cuts,
many words scribbled too.
Blobs of blood and tear stained,
The black ink echoed this way:

‘Maa won’t be back soon, my child,
Just rest your eyes and don’t miss
her tonight,
For she is going very far, close to the moon

The stars shall tell you, it’ll be soon.
She loves you, stay strong, my child.
She never wanted to say goodbye,
But this is how everything will be fine.

-The moon will remember you, my little dandelion.