To My Mother

Mother, I remember

The cold nights you spent

Whispering fond words

To me while I lay

Warm in a cozy cradle

                                   Mother, I remember                

The smile in your eyes

A smile in whose warmth

I sheltered from the cold.

I remember, mother

The pain your heart held

To relieve me of pain.

I remember mother

You swelling with pride

When I recited

Stuttering and gasping

My first nursery rhyme

How I shrieked in joy

When you fondled me

Amid your love I grew

A tiny sapling was I

You tended me for years

With tender hands

Your love was my manure

And now ‘am before you

A blossomed tree

Mother my heart wishes

Those bygone days to return

For my heart still yearns

To revel in your warmth

Mother it’s a special day

The day you met your man

But poor am I for a gift

Yet mother dear

These words I write

Not just with a pen

Not just on a paper

But with my soul I write

On my tender heart

Mother treasure these words

“I love you”

This was written for my mother on her wedding anniversary. I think she was overwhelmed. And I think this was the best gift I gave her.

Published in The Young World section of The Hindu in 1994, in ‘Hello Student’ in 1995, in The PCM bulletin in 1996.                                                         

ANUSHA.U.R.

12 yrs