The First Time Grandfather Poem by Unnikrishnan Sivasankara Menon

I have been waiting for
this day since the moment
my daughter announced
she's on the family way.

Today my granddaughter
smiled at me and with that,
she filled with happiness
my day, my life worth living.

She said to me, "gu…guu…gu"
which I translated to myself
as "I love you, grandpa"
in ecstacy, I closed my eyes.

I picked her up and sang
"Omanathingal kidaavo….."
in a voice coarse enough
to wake up a child fast asleep.

But, it was music sweetest
for her, she slept in my arms
in no time, fully confident as if
she were in her mother's womb.

When our daughter was small
I had no dreams for her, but
just tried to tell her what and how
to dream, and work hard to fulfill it,

For my little Tasha, I wish she would
live a life rich in compassion, ease
the burden of fellow beings at least a few,
but not in riches, surpass Bill Gates.

And achieve all that she dreams.

She reads my mind in her sleep
maybe, and smiles reassuringly
with a million rainbows she adorns
my tiny greyish cloudless sky.

Note:

"Omanathingal kidaavo…..": ഓമനത്തിങ്കൾക്കിടാവോ... The famous lullaby in Malayalam written by poet Irayimman Thampi. It is said that he had written this lullaby for the newborn prince Swathi Thirunal, who later became the Maharaja of Travancore.