To Forgive And Forget Poem by Rajendran Muthiah

When it was ten minutes to lunch bell,
my Chemistry lecturer completed teaching.
I swivelled to my right and looked out.
I was surprised and embarrassed
to see my mother and her sister
standing beside the walkway.
I went out with his nod and asked my mom:
' Why did you come here? '.
' Just to see your college', said
my mother in amazement.I led them out.

Walking some ten kilometres in the hot Sun,
from her Sun-baked birth place,
she came there.The lunch bell rang in my ears.
I got some cheap snacks and drinks for them
and sent them back to reach home before sunset.

I strolled back to hostel mess, with my friend.
I couldn't eat non-veggie food.
I told my friend about the sudden arrival
and departure of my illiterate mother,
clad in a cotton sari with sparse gold chains.
' You are not a man at all.If you had told me,
I would have brought them here for lunch', he said.
He had carried me through tense situations.
Yet he didn't speak to me for two more days.

I went home in the vacation and pleaded with
my mother to forgive me for sending them back
in hunger without taking rest for awhile.
'It's nothing.I felt sorry for not bringing you cash',
she said and continued clearing the weeds in our fields.
My mother's great heart forgot it and it felt no need
to forgive her son.But my sleepless mind
reminisces often that day in my college
and feels remorseful.
My mother has left this world but my heart.
Till I breathe last, her memories will give me
a healing touch to my tearful heart.