To a Three Days Old Child
Little child Shut your eyes tight now, But it won’t last long: Soon enough, baby will know Then our cleaver girl goes to school, And as the sun and the moon Mama will love her more than she needs Then a day comes when One sunny afternoon,Back from the college, Yes, our baby have got Then her every breath will say a prayer Korou Khundrakpam 21st dec 2002
Little you know,
That the air you breathe
Is but sighs of thousands.
And don’t yet be fated to see
What we all are fated to be.
You’ll soon see mama’s smile
And her love-wetted eyes.
Then soon you’ll learn to see
The feeble fear in her eyes.
What getting scolded is,
And she will wail aloud
In an empty room.
With a big satchel and a running nose,
And she’ll learn to hate
Some jade face iron heart Miss Mem.
Are busy in the sky;
We’ll find baby is in love
And she’ll be baby no more.
And mama will expect more than she heeds.
And she learns that mama can be harsh.
But baby wont cry now:
Instead, she’d learned
To smile with a sigh.
Someone breaks baby’s heart,
And she wont smileAnd she wont sigh.
She gazes at the moonAnd sees a crack in it.
baby findsSome loved one had died somehow
And baby recalls
The old art of wailing aloud.
As the stream of timeTwists and turns and bends
Around one bent we’ll see
Our baby’s smile
And her love-wetted eyes
A baby, to cry for
To fight for
To live for
As mine does now for her:
May it all be different for you.
