The Toiling Mother....! Poem by Vidya Pandarinath

This morn I saw her as ever
Wrangling with her rather slack son
Asking him to join hands
With herintilling thelands;
She believed in work- - real hard one,
To exact great yield for all;
He flatly refused and left to sever
From her shouting from behind
She lost not her hope nor mind,
Nor even her Will to do it in full,
Clinching her hands she brought
To gather her flying hair in a knot,
Creased the loose end of her coarse saree
And fastened it up and set out to carry
The work-load with her latent strength
All alone in the field of stretched length.









At sun-set on my way back round
The curious mind just found her
Reposing against a rugged tree;
She sipped some drops of water in spree
As I held out my friendly bottle
And casting a lively smile
She said" What a good child "
I did not mind her hands soiled
Though they caressed my face;
Then she stretched out her left arm above
And waved on the other side;
She broke in and added now:
"Don' t you worry dear I will finish "
" That up by this time tomorrow "
She paused and said with a sigh:
" Mother Earth needs love and attention "
" But her children let her down "
She was content with my smiling nod
And I left turning round
Whilea few drops rolleddown
My cheeks: I wonder why.....?