A Mother's Sorrow

A Mother's Sorrow

The calf, lost and alone,

distress in her voice,

Mewling, her voice drowned,

in the day itself.

Her huge black eyes, terrified

terrified of the world,

terrified of the loneliness,

searched the black horizon,

for a sight of her mother.

She lifted her nose to the air,

her mother's scent missing,

She ran, helter and skelter,

her feet moving unsteadily,

like a toddler's first steps.

Her little legs carried her,

until tired and sad,

she laid down in the green grass

and mooed slowly,

for her strength was gone,

so was her last hope,

and she lay there,

until a passerby,

led her to his shed.

The man whisked away the mother,

for he owned them,

the cow and her calf,

And he led the mother away,

left the calf grazing,

for the calf would soon,

turn into a young bull,

to work in the fields,

to plough the fields,

money-money would flow,

but he forgot

about his future, about his calf,

he remembered seeing the bulls,

toiling away in a nearby field.

But greenery was everywhere,

he searched and he searched,

and as dusk came,

he returned home, sorrowing,

he cried many a day,

for his hopes lay dashed,

and his future missing,

his dreams lost,

his calf lost

pacified he was,

his wife reassured,

our cow shall bear,

many a healthy calf,

we have but to wait.

Wonder I,

the calf, pacified by new home,

the man, pacified by his wife,

but the mother, who shall pacify her,

for it was her firstborn.

Who shall tell her,

that bygone is bygone,

who shall tell her eyes,

where her calf's image hangs,

who shall tell her nose,

where the smell still lingers,

who shall tell her soul,

about the ways of the world.

© 2006 T.Prabhakar. All Rights Reserved.