How do I introduce this poem? It is about a beginning or an end that I will ever fully understand. It is about a poem in it’s own way; a human one, a memento of your heritage. What you are about to read is the humble attempt of a great-granddaughter, who, making her own way in the world generations later, felt like sitting next to her own ‘Grandmother-Great’.
The Grandmother-Great
When I reached her side after crossing lands and seas,
Sitting in front of a mint grey-green, cracked wall
Was great-grandmother. Her skin loose and crinkled, like the
Rippling creases in her simple cotton saree, draped on her
Stooped frame. Chalky hair tightly pulled in a bun highlighted
Her cheeks, like droopy lumps of flatbread dough.
Her soft and crepuscular eyes met my mother’s
And a few warm greetings restlessly tumbled
Into the torrents of memory, rising waves of
Choked, murmured Bengali
That eluded me. But tears sung clear
The pain of a son, a spouse slipping
From grip, falling into abyss inevitable…
But Grandmother-Great still stands
Do sit, we say, there is no need,
Play us time’s ocarina please?
Her symphony now in graceful croon,
Once was throbbing, vigorous tune
Telling of Mother who starved and sacrificed
slapped and loved and labored, masterly as
many-armed Goddess Durga, she was
shrine and shelter for family of twelve.
Grandmother Great went up the stairs with
Me close behind: the walk of a retired explorer
Braving new trials, even now
Even here. Stepping onto the veranda, she
Pointed at the sap-green pond, girdled by a congregation
Of coconut trees, teeming wild shrubs and saplings
Narrating in her thin, mashed lentil voice
A lifetime of stories, no time to explain
Blossoms of beauty, prisms of pain!
Yet time had come to bid goodbye
To Grandmother-Great who lived the journey
I saw in glimpses, understood in fragments
We touched her feet for blessings that hummed
‘Go further than me’
Embraced with warmth that whispered
‘For the last time.’
Rooted strong and deep in your loam, I will try
Aspiring beyond, like sapling towards resplendent sky
Thank you for reading. What are your thoughts on grandparents and ancestors? Leave a comment below…
Keeping going the write way,
Shreya
Paradise Prose Blog 