Once, I was thinking about the twists and turns of life, and some thoughts came into my mind. This is a compilation of those thoughts (albeit incomplete).
I spent nine months in a cage, and I don’t know how the days came and went.
And then, by his heavenly grace, he showed the world my newborn face.
My arrival was such a cheer, papa’s darling, mama’s dear.
The whole family in a state of commotion, the beating of hearts in a frenzied motion
But poor people did not know that what one reaps is what one sows.
‘Cause that’s why I came, to clear my debts and previous scum.
Happiness and joy were all exterior; the falsity of life was my birth’s interior.
They meant nothing for me, my days of infancy.
But for mom and dad, it was a time of joy and fancy.
As for me, as the days rolled by, I began to crawl, and time began to fly.
And with a guiding finger and a helping hand, on the face of the earth, I began to stand.
Chocolate candies and everything good—welcome to the wonderful world of childhood.
I started to learn and started to see sounds, pictures, and ABC.
I began to respond and started to acknowledge that no one could fathom the depth of my knowledge.
“Very intelligent,” they said to my dad, but no one knew what in store my destiny had.
Away from nannies and flower gardens, into school from kindergarten
Silently ran life’s clock; out went the dolls; in came the building block.
Shiny cars and fighter planes, Lego sets, and working cranes
Little friends and all their ilk: honey cookies and thick, rich milk
Nothing could have been better than this; childhood is a ribbon of silk.
Laughing dancing came at the age of adolescence; I did not know, but this was the end of innocence.
Youth came with rain and thunder. I looked around and began to wonder,
Life for me was play and fun, but I saw people sweating in the blazing sun.
For me, life is this, life is here, and life is now, but I saw people unhappy and wondered how.
The terrible teens were all behind me; the pain and wounds were all inside me.
But I felt like a lion raring to go—to the world, my brilliance showed.
The flowers of imagination are all unfurled; with all this power, I could take on the world.
But destiny had intended something more for me; in the fit of myopia, the distance I could not see
So time had come to face life’s intensity; I left school and entered university.
.
.
One day, in sarcasm, I replied to my dad.
“All that you have done for me out of this blue,"
"It is surely a debt to me from you.”
“Thank you for all that you have done, and I will surely repay you before your set of days.”
Shocked he was, but replied in the mildest tone he had
"Son, there is no relation of money between a son and his dad.”
“Surely what I have done for you is a debt, but you don't need to pay me; pay your kids instead.”
A few years later, my dear old daddy died. Yet, I’m sure I heard him laughing when my new-born baby cried.
