Blessed

"Ceiling fan humming,

 The rocking chair cradling,

Fast asleep with rhythmic snores,

Fingers still clenched the newspaper,

He forgot to take off his spectacles yet again,

I tip-toed to him, gently removed them,

He jerked for a moment, still asleep,

I glanced at his wrinkled face,

Had always known it for its strength,

But today I saw a different man,

Calm, loving -veiled under a disciplinarian that he is,

Aging is such a humbling experience I thought…

I had an urge to kiss his forehead and express how much I acknowledge what he does for each of us…

Instead, I just held his finger for a while and felt like an eight year old again...

I could never find the right words to tell him…

I closed the door behind,

My luggage was already in the car… and again, I left for the station…

It wasn’t the first time, yet the pain pricked the same way..."

20th July '14