That mound of Earth

A snail, a fox, a horse's trot

A bud, a bloom, a drooping petal

A sapling, a trunk, branches

Pale delicate shoots green

A leaf, cluster, yellow and fall

A flower, a fruit , green and ripe

A road, a hump , a destination

A river, a bank, and a flow

The sea, the endless grain of sand

The gentle breeze, the endless days

The moon waxing and waning

The rains, a drizzle and a torrent

The sun warm and burning

Seasons which run the test of time

The crawl, a stumble, a run

A walk, a stumble and a pain.

I have walked miles painlessly

I now walk painfully

I do not punctuate today

For I need none

Language is a need

Sometimes inadequate

Most of the times incomplete

Yet I search in language

Unworded wounds, deep anxieties

Restless pursuits, untraced roads

Unformed words, misused emotions

Thankless relationships, hope and fear

Which have no language

I return to stares and sounds

And learn to talk all over again

I return to the origins for meanings.

Eyeing that mound of earth

Which will be my home for eternity

Mother eternal

Then.....when I penned

Your return to Earth

I was not a mother

Yet I wrote....for

I saw, sensed the silent grief

In a child you cherished

I sensed the grieving heart of a mother

The pain in separation permanent

And sensed the uncertainty of life and time

Today when I sense pain in my limbs

And the weakening of muscle and heart

A missed heartbeat here and there

I know...how you must have felt

When you left your only loving child

To face a harsh and uncertain world

That poem emerged when you returned

To the lap and land that you belonged to.

This, on the threshold of that return.

Today I understand better the pain

In leaving....not the world

But a child I cherish and love.