A Tribute to Our Dear Father
on his Birthday 9th December.
Stealthily, he grew old
Everyone does.
But he was … our papa!
Always going in and out,
Always working
Always guiding
When did he grow old?
When did Time fly away?
Finally one day
He lay shattered.
Unable to walk,
Unable to hold himself
Unable to sit,
He, who was always fiercely independent,
Could no longer do anything by himself
He resented help.
Yet we failed to realize
He was wasting away
Our papa?
“No, it couldn’t be!”
“Had he really grown so… old?”
No! Impossible
It was beyond our imagination.
No one felt he would leave
If… if only the fact could be accepted
And it must
But… when you lose someone dear
The vacuum remains
Our mama’s weary eyes
Search for him everywhere…
She forgets he is no more
She loses herself in old memories
We just hold her hand in prayer
Her life mingled with his own
Remains boundless
We lost our papa
We must accept the loss
We must…
The emptiness round the house
Grows aged with every passing year
~Shobha Diwakar
Jabalpur, India
It’s a beautiful tribute bringing dearest Papa alive through the poem. Yes old age is waiting for each one of us. It’s the law of nature what comes has to go one day. No one can win this battle.