A Death Poem by Girija KSK

He just walked away
at the dead of the night-
leaving a family to grope in the gloom!
It was least convincing to me
Being a girl of seventeen!
I felt a sense of betrayal and the resultant bitterness
As if he had plotted for a secret journey
leaving me behind, as usual!

I couldn't cry, father's pet though I was;
Can anyone leave the dear ones
with no parting words…?
But I remember, how shattered my elder brother was,
as he kept wiping frantically my unshed tears,
With tears overflowing his eyes!

We sat near his body, more dead
than the benumbed one…….
But yet the crow's first caw and the new day break,
ushered us to a world
where our father was no more!


Later, alone in his room
I felt, how real helpless he would be
when death captured him unaware.
I cried for my poor father,
with whom I have never shared a secret or a sorrow…!
Yet there are memories
Culled a long way,
that make him dear…….

How proud he was over the marks
his children scored in the exams…
How strict he was that
we wouldn't waste time over trivialities……
So, for a long period when the gate creaked,
I swiftly hid my colour pencils
and switched off my radio, fearing his frown.

But now I know,
You sure loved us, dear father,
yet left us with a word of love untold
and with a caress never made;
I feel I miss that more, dear father,
than your lack of presence!

………………………………………