Poem of the moment - Eat, my son, eat by M Udayakala

Posted on October 16, 2004 10:24 AM EST

Eat, my son, eat by M Udayakala

`Where was I all these years, mother?' `In the womb of my desire.'
`And you, mother?' `In the dreams of your father, my dear.'
`And father, what was he doing?' `He was in search of us both.'
`Son dear, it is time for you to eat now.' `Mother!' `Yes.'
`Why should I eat?' `To become strong like Rama.'
`Who was Rama?'
`You have already forgotten that story! Rama was also a child
like you. One day he cried for the Moon in the sky. His mother
showed him the Moon in a mirror to make him smile. Now we
worship Him. He's our God.'
`Why is Rama our God?'
`Because He punished all the bad people with his bow and arrow.'
`Like the one I play with?'
`Yes, but with one still bigger than yours.'
`Why did Rama punish them?' `They were all bad, dear little one.'
`What is bad, mother?' `That which is not good.'
`What is good, mother?' `You are good, son.'
`And you, mother?'
`Good when you smile like the full moon in the blue sky;
Bad when you smear your body with all the dust in the world!'
`Mother, I will always be good.' `Eat, then.'
`I will, if you sing a song.'
`You naughty boy, may Hanuman protect you, my little monkey!

Even before I was married to your father and crossed the doorstep
of this mud house,
You were born in my dreams when as a child I was playing with my
pretty dolls of wood;
Little one, if you smile, the world for me is a heaven brought
to the Earth,
But if you cry, my heart quivers as the leaf does when the mad
wind blows past it.

`Eat, my son, eat now.'

-The End-