Indebted I Am

Indebted I am.

P K Routray

(Son-on-law)

 

 

The Lord’s mercy is great

in His creation, He did create

for every being a unique mother

planting inimitable source of love in her  

to protect her progeny from earthly wrath

holding its finger to show the survival path.

showering on it her love at each moment

but men forget thus teachings on love and lament.

Man as an infant or an adult run to his mother

when he is physically and emotional in danger,

the mother may be alive or she may be no more

her tombstone can serve as a source to cure.

For me the Lord did a blessed favor

in my mother-in-law giving me another mother.

For forty-four years, my wellbeing was on her focus

Hey Lord Krishna! From above, of me were you envious

as because you had two mothers on either side of a river

and to me ,a mortal being you repeated it, perhaps an error.

Hence you rolled the time abnormally fast for her.

Her youth to the old age, it galloped to wipe out your error.

Fortunate was I, to stay with her for thirty years together

enjoying a groom’s dignity and as a son the grace of the mother.

On her, my heart can speak volumes if my tears permit

painting her sacrifices, her wells and woes, and healthy habit

that at ninety for many organs she could have been a honoured donor

She died of old age. healthy, enviable were her physical parameter.

Her glistening teeth, grace on the face beauty in her frame

to many youths of present era, it will put in shame.

Enduring the shock of the death of her husband at an early age

she could look after her husband’s leftover tasks with exemplary courage.

Every year she ensured new wears for me with stubborn insistence

from her dying bed she gave me her gifted shawl with smiling silence

Her austerity of being a Hindu widow, I knee down bow.

Her rituals, her fasting in the holy month make my heart beat low.

Staying far off her landed property, she could capably administer.

Her tacts and techniques can enlighten today’s qualified manager.

She had read and reread all major scriptures of Hindu religion.

She could answer all such questions on the contests over television.

As her son-in-law I had a regret that I could not do as I wish now

that I realized when old age touched me and she was lying low.

But as a mother, I am sure she will excuse me from her Heavenly abode

Now  on ward I will cry and pray for peace to her soul. to the Lord.

This is not an obituary but an expression of reverence

as even with her empty bed by my side I still feel her presence.

Hey Bou! Tears only came now feeling really your absence

while under persuasions I am penning this last sentence.

No Bou! Do not leave us following the laws of creation.

If so, by your subtle presence protect us with your divine beacon.

Indebted I am to the Lord.

indebted ti am to my dad for his nod

in blessing me with such a caring mother-in-law

in whom my own mother I always saw.

Indebted I am to the society for creating a second mother on the earth.

Indebted I am to my mother who permitted me without any wrath.

Indebted I am to my better half sharing her mother with me.

Indebted I am to my kith and kin who sanctioned this relationship with glee.

Indebted I am to my mother in law

for her love to me that I now recollect with tears and awe.

 

 

(N.B – I am the only son-in-law of my mother-in-law. She became a widow in 1979 and stayed with us for thirty years taking care of us and controlling her property from a distance. She expired at an age of around ninety-two on 15 th December because of old age. She was my second mother created on the earth.)