TO MY FATHER ON HIS 43rd DEATH ANNIVERSARY

TO MY FATHER ON HIS 43rd DEATH ANNIVERSARY

Nana, had you been all along with me,

In the turbulent Sea of life, forlornly, I would not have to swim,

I would not have to walk in the alleys narrow, gloomy and grim,

Really, So sad and sorrowful would not have been my life’s Film!

Nana, had you not left me before I was barely two years,

I would not have to pass alone through so much deafening chaos,

I would not have been snowed under so much bitter adversity,

I would not have to exist like a negligible and pitiful  “Anonymity”!

Nana, had you not been neglectful of your health,

I would not have to miss in you the invaluable wealth,

I would not have to be a hapless, pitiable and playable “Puppet”,

I would not have to be blown helter skelter like a dry leaf’s “Fate”!

Nana, May I always be a good Man with your heavenly Blessings’ Rays!

Nana, My own sourest experiences teach me to humbly and earnestly pray:

“May no child in the world ever fall to Father bereavement’s painful Prey,

May all Fathers under the Sun keep making their dearest children’s days!”

N.B: The poet's father was a Postman, who breathed his last due to his neglectful attitude towards his health. He did not go for treatment after an iron nail got pinched into his feet, which got contaminated coming in contact with cow dung due to walking bare foot and working in the field, leading to his tragic end. He left behind him the poet's widowed mother, two elder brothers and an elder sister. The poet was youngest son. At that time he was about one and half years. Then started a traumatic and pathetic period for his family. The poet struggled almost 40 years to settled for which he remains indebted to God as well as his family members.

Glossary:

Nana – father in Odia, poet's mother tongue

Turbulent – tumultuous/ unstable

Forlornly – desolately/ desperately

Anonymity – obscurity

Helter skelter – confused/ haphazard

Making children’s days – making children happy

©Dr. Shankar D Mishra, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India 

WhatsApp no. +918270604524

N. B. This poem was composed in 2018

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