A Daughter’s Lament

When I wake up from my dreams

I don’t want to see the ceiling and the fan

But you, oh mother!

I want to breathe in that scent of yours

I want to hear the thump of your heart

I want to feel your sighing breath

Waking up from a deep slumber

Time and again when I realize

That it’s not your soft lap but my bed

On which I closed my eyes and dreamt of you

Oh mother! Can you understand my pain and agony

Of growing up to an age whence

I can no longer fit into your lap

How nice were those good ol’ days

When you would pat me to sleep singing a lullaby

When you would run after me so that I don’t fall

When you held my hand and made me write my first alphabet

When you would pull back my hair into a little ponytail

People fantasize of growing up and big

But Oh mother! My fantasy is to lie

In your lap and close my eyes

Never to grow up again in my life