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Those hands took portrait photographs These inherited fingers click digital snap-shots Still, how to portray your image after aeons Without a brush, with a fading inner light of memory? In childhood, you forbade bike riding for years Then, little did I know of - your tragic bike accident You bore its scars, lifelong with a heavy sigh. You sacrificed land, leisure, and pride For my interminable studies To make me most educated in the entire street. When you brought tiffin for my school final exams Or, when you brought a sackful of Banganpalle mangoes Walking miles in hot Andhra summer midday Your affection was always as sweet and transparent As the coastal coconut water. Except some small errands Like picking flowers for puja Or, going to the temple monthly on Siva-ratri day I did nothing for you, nothing to ease your difficulties A heavy debt, indeed I bear in my heart, forever. At this late hour, Retrospective is all I got In the immature youth, I behaved like an 'Opuntia Cactus' Yet, you gently nurtured me with a soft heart For that rare, impossible stubborn bloom - of my dream. Am no painter, no 'Adi Sankara' Nor a tern to fly thousands of miles Could you, Nanna, accept these scribblings As obsequies? (A Remembrance on Father's Day) |