A Goodbye Never Uttered Poem by Rumpa Das

You left me forever
Ten years ago this day.
Did you think I was strong enough?
I was so tired, ma!
I needed rest
That only you could give.
And yet you just left?
No goodbye, no telling me
To be careful while roads cross me -
And crisscross my body, my soul
Breaking, making narrow alleyways
Of dark despair,
Some turns suddenly happy
Some, suddenly gray and cold.

You had seen me, been with me
In my moments of joy, moments of pain.
You made me - flesh of your flesh, blood of your blood
Into the being I am.
You made a human out of me, ma,
Giving me your tender strength
Your righteousness, your patience.
But you didn't teach me, ma,
How I would cope without you?
How, without you, I could move ahead?
'Coz ma, these ten years, without you -
I have moved around, moved about,
But I haven't been able to move ahead.