Thank You, Appa.. Poem by Veeraiyah Subbulakshmi

If I can rewind the time only for a second,
If I can go back to the deleted past only for a second,
If I can drift to the nook before you became the ash,
If I can edit all those letters, sent to you since I was five,

If I can rewrite our story line only for a second,
If I can have the wand to have you for a second,
If I can price open the heaven’s threshold only for a second,
I can say these words with teary flowers,

When your silence was taken as the contentment,
When your quiet composure was mistaken as a rock,
When your gazing eyes failed to meet our selfish eyes,
I never realized that you needed my words of gratitude,

How your weak heart could have beaten faster,
To make you ill, every time I arrived and left,
Not hearing a word of gratitude and assurance,
Appa, that second will not arrive to thank you in person.

Many father's day passed without buying a card for you,
which I used to do when you were alive as my dad,
You had called me a good girl but I have this thorn,
Have I ever thanked you the way I perceive the life now?