To My Son of 14 Days

- Brian Mendonca

The robin came to see you
this early morn
As you gazed your troubles away
ensconced on my lap.
Your alert eyes take in everything
as, in the pre-dawn silence,
you mull over the verities of life.
The myriad faces on the curtain
in Kalamkari blockprint fascinate you -
'How can there be so many?
 - And all of them to see me?!'
As angels play
You smile in your sleep
You cry when they go away.

I am no Yeats
O son of my Fathers
Just an alphabet or two
to memorialize our joy.
Our hectic lives 
bask in your presence
Lead us on to
the frontiers of tomorrow.

(26 January 2011, New Delhi)