I’m a college lecturer in Media and English, a book reviewer and blogger.
Motherhood was and is a challenge for me. Not because I don’t feel like a mother or feel too lazy to bother about what it takes to be a mother. But because, I have a day job, I read a lot and I balance a household’s work. And add a two year old to it, and you have a masala! But I love it. Absolutely have no regrets about having conceived when I did, and having had a baby when I did! And by God’s grace, my husband and long-time friend, Terence Joseph is a gem. Hehe I know all wives would say that!
Below are a few Haikus I wrote after childbirth, last year.
Every drop of milk
of mine
is yours forever.
At the breast –
serene face,
watchful eyes.
Come, my child
let’s play
just you and me.
Shhh, he’s asleep
dreaming dreams
of tomorrow.
Starting to speak,
but even mama,
can’t comprehend.
A lover’s bed
unmade
memories that linger on.
And a short poem:
My body, A vessel
We were one,
You took shape inside me,
grew your limbs and eyes.
A speck that you once were,
a mere dot in a vast sea
now a little man yourself.
Our hearts used to beat in rhythm,
Now you lie on my chest,
my heartbeats lulling you to sleep.
My belly grew as you were designed,
The ridges and valleys still visible
on my stretched tummy.
The weight of life inside,
each day a new beginning,
each night a new feeling.
They told me it’d be sleepless nights,
now I wait for your sweet laughter,
to ring in my dreams.
Pain it was, searing through me,
Ripping my being apart.
I held back tears and groans,
Knowing it was you all along.
I gave you life,
And you gave meaning to mine.
I am a mother. A vessel.
Shana
Shana, very very touching. Where did you get the time for all this? You are truly gifted- the words just flow with such ease and spontaneity.
Shana, you are a true poet, true to your feelings, and I can hear the music in your poems. Sing them, softly or aloud.
Jayaschandran