A Nestling Sans Nest

No eyes I have now-
Only craters of tears.
No tone I have now
Only a hollow tune.
Heart, not in the least!
This pitiless face
Threw a ten- year babe
Into a hostel.
Currency notes flash
Going gaga
‘better education’!
label of discipline,
punishment in real.
Hiding my own
Three decade
Maternal fond bond
I denied my sweet love
To my tender child.

Me, defeated in the crowd
I wish you’d be the only victor-
But a lonely victor!

Your little feet know no
Path back home.
You unable to scale the home
Walls of seperation,
You with none to run forward to
To bind your waist
With loving longing hands.
A right hand broken
The hand dangling,
Childhood’s cool comfort
Tucked behind an
Uncertain future.
An only support
In the beginning of
The battle of life,
Me, a mother
A soulless nest
Behind the nesling.

No solace of a tender heart
Touches my tearful cheeks
No soft hands of a tenderling
Fondles me both as mother and father.

All this-
Only to save the boy
A victim from the mad bad world
All this-
Only to save the boy
An offering from the heartless family hearth.

No more the dainty feeding
Of loving morsels.
No more the fun and frolic
Of both the mother and child.
My heart goes back
To my own childhood.
I drove you away
And now my heart melts and sinks
At that momentary harshness.
I didn’t look back longingly
Leaving you there in seriousness
My heart writhes and cries,
Now that façade has gone
Attachment/guidance
Love/discipline
Maintained alternately
Only by one- the mother

All this-
Only to save you
From the contemporary
Cruel reality.

All this-
Only to do my duty/justice
If I can’t change your
Fate!

Translated by MO