Father

Dr. Sarojini Sahu

You’re present everywhere, but I find you nowhere.

Why?

Roaming all around, you’re confined to a point.

Why?

Leaves grow; leaves shade; leaves fall off

Wind makes furor, the chilled December ices the particles

Still you are reluctant, like the peak of a temple.

Why?

Appetite in time; thirst after appetite; tiredness from thirst

But your knocking still sounds at every door of tiredness, thirst and appetite,

As if you are a soldier and would fight to the last.

I am sheltered under the tree where birds sit on every branch

Still it seems, though you are so near, you are very far from me.

You have spread out your branches and call them or not, they certainly will come

From grasshoppers to butterflies, how secured their feelings are

While running from head to foot throughout your body

But you remain at peace.

Woodpeckers crave your branches while

Other birds sing and fly away after laying their eggs

But you sit there waiting for their return.

Drying veins, dimming eyesight

Your body sheds its bark.

And though you remain here

Dead silence makes you nowhere.

I am sheltered under the tree where birds sit on every branch

Still it seems, though you are so near, you are very far from me.

Dr. Sarojini Sahu - Born in 1956, Dr Sarojini Sahoo has an MA and PhD degrees in Oriya Literature, and a Bachelor of Law, from Utkal University. She now teaches at a Degree college in Belpahar, Jharsuguda, of Orissa. A distinguished bilingual South Asian feminist writer, and an associate editor of a feature oriented English journal Indian AGE, she has been conferred with the Orissa Sahitya Academy Award, 1993, the Jhankar Award, 1992, the Bhubaneswar Book Fair Award and the Prajatantra Award.

sarojinisahoo.com/

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