Watching Rain With My Daughter Poem by Prathibha Nandakumar

Two pairs of hands grip the window bars
One a tender silky soft, the other hard and full of knuckles
Two pairs of eyes staring at the drops
Flashes of lightening and dark despair

Long ago I watched rain with my mother
I was all thrill and she strangely silent and lost
Hot and cold droplets falling on my hands
Some from the rain and some from her eyes

And much water flown down the time lane
all changed along with season
The taught body loosened to make way
to rainbows and thunder storms

Once again the rains bring us to the window
my little one sits happy playing with cool drops
Unafraid, her fingers do not reach out seeking mine
Her father's shadow is but only smiling at a distance


Freehand translation from Kannada by the poet