By Arundhati Pawar
Mommy!
You were my only universe,
When in your cozy womb you sheltered me for nine long months,
your blood and flesh making me into what I am!
Your feelings and emotions percolating
my states of conscious and subconscious.
You were still my only universe,
when you allowed me to breathe my own life,
and handed me over to the infinite world around,
allowing me to connect with the life without disconnecting with you.
You were still my only universe,
when you nurtured me from a bud to a flower,
persuading me to blossom in all possible ways,
guiding me through all ifs and buts of life.
You were still my only universe,
when I drifted away from you many a times,
carrying with me many of my choices of people and things,
yet with a thin chord of love adjoining me with you.
You were still my only universe,
when your growing age made you vulnerable yet stronger,
compelling me to retreat in your shelter time and again
escaping the complex web of struggling times.
You are still my only universe,
when my life conspires with multiple universes,
that creates a chaos of people and things,
And it is you, my only universe,
who in your silent retreat
still carry me with all my multiple universes
in the same womb that once carried me
and giving me the solace till eternity.