Growing Up Poem

the poem, retracing its steps on a paper today,
was born almost five and thirty years ago
when a little bundle of some woman’s joy
came to be in this world
in a country that doesn’t exits any longer

the language lending its sounds
to ambiguous meanings
created, dispersed, and created again
came about
in a very peculiar manner
when a baby with locks like sunflower petals
half-open to greet morning sun
stretched its hand
and first christened somebody “mama!”

the feelings seeking expression
take their root in the day
when a teenager learned
that the arrows of Eros
aren’t exclusively golden
some are forged out of lead
and are deadly in nature

years passed, feelings turned,
sounds came very close
to revealing the essence
of something important
that was there all along
but could never
declare its presence…

when a grown up man came to stay in my life
i found words for the poem that grew to be written


2008