MOM’S SHAWL (Telugu Original “Amma Saluva” by Dr K.Geeta)

MOM’S SHAWL

                       English Translation: V.Vijaya Kumar

Telugu Original : “Amma Saluva” by Dr K.Geeta

Value multiplies in thousands when it gets lost

We can’t redeem in life the value for negligence

Though it has years elapsed since I left my home-town

The warmth of woolen shawl like the wings of Mom

Nestling in winter tucking under Mom’s sari

Days slept in the warmth of stove kept under the cot 

Shedding the drenched clothes in rainy season

The moments of drying the head with mom’s end of the sari

This red shawl reminds me over and over 

As a token of my Mother-in-law to Mom

And a token to me from my Mom I brought this red shawl

Though lost everything in life, these are the lives not distressed in

When the memento slipped the distress in heart gets down into

Throat and settles down there 

How can I say that I have lost You Mom when you come to me? 

What can I show to my Grandma that it’s your loving shawl

When she asks me?

Though there are a houseful of Shawls like a first sari

How can I fill this place with that gone forever one

As long as the thorn pains

The heart breaks into pieces when we lost the memento

In those unbearable cold days 

This shawl is the solace of mom’s warmth of hug

Wound the shoulders and hands

And over the ears and waist round

Hope someone would enjoy the warmth of it somewhere 

But It’s my mom’s heart and Grandma’s soft hands

They never know

When the Summer comes they turn it into a crushed lump

And throwback into a corner

As if breaking my heart and tossed it out

The sense that hung to our Shawl

And my hidden childhood art crafts 

They hug when I traced behind I find my tears

When failed and left in handkerchief

We may give birth when we cherished the one

If we miss our Mom-

I slipped the shawl and I missed the warmth of my mom’s hug

Negligence made my eyes shut and got my Mom missed

*****