Amma...

Amma ( 1937 - 2005 )
Mum … in remembrance.
Missed dearly in ever eternity.

I suppose she heard us the first time we cried.
I suppose she carried us and sang a silent lullaby.
Thin and frail she was, we, feeble and fragile...
She in her old garb, creased. Us in our cot, wrapped...

My young mother set her foot on the path of life.

"Is this the long way, the only way?" she asked clutching us hard.
The guide said, "Yes, and the way is hard. You’ll be old before you reach the end of it. But the end will be better than the beginning".

Mother grew happy. She believed anything could be better than these years. She trod on. She played with us, gathered flowers and pebbles for us along the way, and bathed us in the clear streams. When the sun shone, my young Mother smiled, "Thank you Ganesha, nothing can ever be lovelier than this".

Then the night came with the storm and the path grew dark. We shook with fear and cold. Mother drew us near and covered us with her mantle. We said, “Mother, we’re not afraid, for you’re with us. No harm can come".

And the morning came, and a hill stood ahead of us. We climbed and grew weary, and mother feared our weariness. But she kept at all times reminding, "A little patience my dear ones, and we’re there".

So we climbed, and when we reached the top, "Mother, we would not have done it without you".

My mother, she lay down at night looked up at the stars and said, "This is a better day than the last, for my children have learned fortitude in the face of hardness. Yesterday I gave them courage. Today, I have given them strength".

The next day came with strange dark clouds blanketing the earth; clouds of war, hate and evil. We groped and stumbled. Mother said, "Look up. Lift your eyes to the light".

We looked up and saw clouds, an everlasting glory. It guided us beyond the darkness. That night Mother whispered, “This is the best day of all, for I have shown my children God”.

And the days went on, and the weeks and the months and the years, and mother grew old and bent. We grew tall, strong, and walked with courage. And when the way was rough, we lifted her, for she was as light as feather; and at last, we came to a hill and beyond that saw, a shining road, and the golden gates flung wide open.

Mother beamed and said: "Alas! I have reached the end of my journey. Now I know the end is better than the beginning, for you my children, you can now walk alone, and your children after you."

We said, "You’ll always walk with us mother, even when you’ve gone through the gates."
We stood and watched as she went on alone, and the gates closed after her.

We, the children said, "We cannot see her, but she's with us . A Mother like ours is more than a memory. She's a living presence."

Your Mother...,
... is always with you.
... she's the little whisper of the leaves you walk on;
... she's the warm fragrant smell of clothes you put on.
…she's the caring hand on your brow when you're ill.
…she’s the waft of wind that brushes your cheeks when you’re cold.

Your Mother ...,
... lives inside your laughter.
... she's crystallized in every tear you drop;
…she's the place you came from, your first home;
... she’s the map you follow with every step you take;
…she’s the light in your tunnel and the gate to your sanctuary;

She's your first love and your first heartbreak.
Nothing on earth can separate you from that... not time, not space...not even death!

TO ALL MOTHERS….MAY WE NEVER TAKE YOU FOR GRANTED.