To Dad, my Friend

You taught me to fly,

To reach the skies high,

And while I flew,

You prayed for my strength.

You taught me to paint,

Every time my brush

Grazed the canvas,

You prayed for my skill.

You taught me to write

Every time my pen moved on,

You prayed for my success.

Every time my breathing shallow grew

You prayed for my life.

What do we miss, friend of my deepest thoughts

The shared cakes, larger portions mine

 Or the wise cracks over snobbish principals, amnesiac colleagues

Or the wind that ruffled your hair

As I counted them with hesitant fingers

Or little arms that held you tight

 As the black, black motorcycle sped over black, black roads.

If life offers sweetness too quick to savor full

Wont we buy time and space

And miss human togetherness, the promised land?

Friend, nothing will cease our world

We will live every moment of laughter and tears

In our struggle to smile at unknown, unseen roads.

What do we need, friend dear

When you feel my pain greater

And I see yours.

What more do we aspire for

Than this unbreakable bond

That binds our souls one

That lets you read my unspelt tears

And sense my unsung laughter

All thro’ our years.

What treasure would be greater

That the world can boast of than

The hearty laughter, the rare wavelength

An eight year girl and her father years ahead

Discovered in each other, subtle and firm.

Racing on a black, black, motorcycle

The black road solely the world our own

Time and space rolled neat under my little left foot,

My little wishes fulfilled beside you

Life’s movements at our command.

Let not Time and Fate

Break our deep bond

Though a mischievous mortal death might

Wish we cease together if it does

Yet beat death our love will

In our reunion, a life beyond.

When I wrote this I had been worried about one dying before the other, not about death itself.

ANUSHA.U.R.

14 yrs

12:00 AM