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A Poem for my mum- "Amma"


When only tears speak ,
Our hearts affirm to our mind
that mother is happy in heaven;
Mind learnt to let you go but
Our heart still looks out for you-
Wants to cuddle you and snuggle in your arms,
Close our eyes and lay still on your lap...

Our mum is a pretty lady;
She has her style;
-the most  sweetest voice,
An amazing storyteller;
An excellent cook
Our best friend that we can tell almost anything and everything;

She is all the beautiful things that we can imagine of-

From roses to lavenders;
Teacups to coffee;
Writing to knitting;
Forget Me Not, one of my mother's favourite flower
Cooking to baking;
Powders to lotions ,
Pearls to watches;
Handkerchiefs to saris;
Pens to books;
Tamil to English;
Songs to poems;
Temple to shopping.
Many times she is a child to us.

At the moment, when a daughter loses her mum,
Even the strongest women-a fine lady just as her mother always wanted,
Will become a little girl again;
Who just wanted to wrap herself in her mum’s warmth-
Once again she would wants to roll herself up
in her mother’s womb-the most serene and beautiful place on the earth...
And never say goodbye;
Never say goodbye to the loveliest soul that had brought her to this world;
And made her
A lady of strength;
A lady of vision
A lady of her own;

Complete-just the way she wanted;
And Perfect –in every imperfection.

When your breath became air,
And your body became ashes,
Your memories will live forever in our hearts, Amma- your  six gems of daughters!
We are proud , we are daughters;
We are glad, we are sisters;
And you and appa had walked a long way for us.
Amma! Appa and we will miss you a lot.
You  are “Queen of our hearts”
Your kindness and love will be our guide.

Your memories will be our strength.
Rest in Peace Amma!

(Written for my dearest mum after her death due to long illness on 27/03/2017. I am posting the voice of my heart in my blog Penamoli today as I have decided to continue my writing journey just as how my mum had always wished. My mum, herself is a writer; she writes short stories for Malaysian Tamil magazines and Tamil Radio-known well as Thevamalar Subramaniam.)

Comments

Anonymous said…
Touching and soulful.

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