The Half Eaten Cake

 

Early morning...

Pulling away the curtains

I let the sun stream in

"Good Morning" I say cheerfully

"Morning" Replies Mom drowsily

"Happy Birthday"

She repeats after me "Happy Birthday"

I ask her, "Whose Birthday it is , Maa?"

"Don't know..." She says dreamily

"Yours", I croon into her ears softly

In the evening...

Sister brings the cake

"Happy Birthday Maa"

Creamed on it

We make her sit on the bed

and tell her to cut it

She tries to wound her gnarled fingers

Round the plastic knife but fails

We hold her hand and knife out a piece

Singing "Happy Long Life To You..."

She looks around with wide vacant eyes and

Repeats "Appy  Long Life..."

Her lids droop....we place her head gently

on the pillow....she snores softly

In the Hall...

We all gather

With a piece of cake in hand

We celebrate her wrinkled memory

Her fading smile

Her half knowing glances

Her garbled song

And pretend to be merry

A bit musty though...

My mother is a Dementia patient since 2016

This poem is shared with Poets and Storytellers United 

Mother And Child

I have nurtured hatred
unendingly so................
bags full of trash
valueless to the world
priceless to me
as all other worthless thoughts
churned and cherished
within the fragile membranes
                  of a puerile mind
now appear to have lost their shine
in the blinding glitter
of mushrooming malls

I have parented dreams
wailing in the womb
of silenced nights
throttled sobs
and muffled cries

I have sung lullabies
to sooth them to sleep
and woken them up
at the wrong time
fed them what
money could not buy
nourished them well
so that they  not die
an untimely death
schooled them to believe
they have been immortalized

Yes, I have mothered dreams
but never a child...