POEM_: Dialogues with Mother: I

Do you know

who a mother is? 

That to whom

one can go –

when one fails

and bare all: 

all one’s bruises, hurts, inadequacies;

drop all defences

and all make-beliefs

and be acceptable for what one is. 

A person with whom

you find tenderness and love

simply because you are you. 

With whom

you need not put up a show

of the confidence of a breadwinner

of the strength of a father

of the bravado of a lover…

Mother,

you were good

but this one thing

you could never give me. 

So rarely could I come to you

with a failure. 

And when I did

it would be to hear you say: 

“I told you so.” 

You could never really accept:

Incredulous, you’d say: My son? Failed?

My son? 

And to this day

I know no greater pain

no greater failure

and in retrospect, no greater betrayal

than this.

- owais

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This was earlier published in "Love?"

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