Flight

Mother
When you taught me to fly
Were you aware
That one day
I would fly
Far away from you
To a new nest,
A new family ?

You would have been happy
That my wings
Can now take me
To far away places,
That I can fly to my destination
Even when alone..
Yet you would have
Had the doubt -
What if I get tired,
What if I fall.. ?
You would have had
The fear
That soon I would fly
Away from you.
Ever since I came to you
Your world has been
Revolving around me.
Your heart would have
Skipped a beat
Whenever you would have thought
This center of your life
Shifting elsewhere,
Gone to become
The center of
Someone else's life.

Yet, Mother,
You taught me
To spread my wings fully
And fly independently.
Even when far away from you
I always remembered
Your nest
And I kept returning there
To search for my memories..

Now it is my turn
To teach how to fly
And I still need you..
Your experience,
Your love,
Your guidance
So that even I can
Confidently
And fearlessly
Teach my little bird
To fly even higher.

- Seema Kumar
3rd October, 2007

(I wrote a poem in Hindi today - Udaan (उडा़न). While trying to explain its meaning to a friend who does not undertsnd Hindi fully, I ended up translating the whole poem in English... and here it is.)