Mother’s lap
– Manasa Reddy Chichili
In a winter night
I lay on the ground
Touched by the cool breeze
I watch the moon from the wooden gaps
Feeling like the hard floor
Is as soft as my mother’s lap
In mom’s dairy
changes soil to soil
Attaining rebirth every single time
Before moving with their new life
Whenever someone speaks in their mother tongue
They become a dear one
And for a short moment
I am a closed book.
In the past, we were the best.
The present is unspoken.
I lost my precious memories.
Our life was full of happiness –
Now it’s unspoken.
My world has grown so small.
But I have learned so much from you.
You are a daughter
You are a wife
You are a mother
But looking back
Only now do I realize
You are always amazing.
Our life is full of happiness now it is unspoken.
We are separated by the death of thought.
Our old life together is now over.
*****
Manasa Reddy Chichili a poet from Hyderabad, Telangana. My haiku and tanka have been published in several journals such as Under the Basho, Mainichi Haiku and others. My haiku was nominated for the Touchstone Award (2025), and I have also dabbled in writing haikus directly in Japanese.