Skip to main content

Candle of Motherhood


This is a revised version of my earlier poem 'The Candle'.

CANDLE OF MOTHERHOOD


Upright and confident she shone,
A light amidst devils of old.
Sheltering her enchanted child,
From fiery fiends of the night.

A candle with the power to light
New beams, and embers of the past.
A home where happiness abounds,
Where wretched  ignorance stays out.

Away now I lie from her sight,
Away I linger in the dark.
Now old I am, but wiser she
Who warned me of my own follies.

Still deep I fall into the pit
With shadows now engulfing me.
But from the corner leaps a spark,
Her final breath to protect me.


- Maryam Kaleem

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Double Murder

DOUBLE MURDER Book spread-eagled on the desk Fallen flat after a leap of faith. A morbid, macabre morgue, It stinks of rotten Fate. Skin grainy and wrinkled, Pale yellowy flesh. Dog eared, unbound, A murder - bloody fresh. Scarlet rivers overflowing Every finger, every limb. Veins of protein rich blood, Splattered over the brim. Black ants form a queue Muttering in meters, Chanting hymns to the Devil And his creeping, crawling critters. No lone murder, Second victim at its side. Eyes in Keatsian stupor, Dead or alive? Kick the bodies over, Pages unfurled fly. A shroud for the corpse To let out a sleepy sigh. Alarm bells a-ringing, A frantic dance of unrest, Caffeinate the eyes, Tomorrow's the test! - Maryam Kaleem

Calling on an Empty Home

CALLING ON AN EMPTY HOME Familiar streets, familiar buildings, An old key to match the rusting lock A stubborn door, weathered and wise - Lift it to the right and it creaks open. The old wooden table, with notches and scratches, The same burn from the spilt milk. I wince - I feel the sting, a decade too late. The same wall with incomprehensible dashes Like ants crawling in zigzagged fashion, A letter, a dash, a number, An unraveled code of growth and wisdom, With dusty trophies as evidence. A worn desk with crumbling papers And jammed books, All holding the memories of a time that once was, A time, never found again. Familiar walls, familiar pages - An absence of faces, an absence of voices. Memories volleyed from wall to wall, Fate decreed, page after page, Now lying undisturbed, unheard. A flood of nostalgia unleashed Through the opened door Into a cold, fragile mind, Brimming, overwhelmed, Screeching with echoes. So...

Unwebbed

UNWEBBED With cool dew waking up the drowsy woods, Dazed by the perfume of jasmines divine, Amidst a lush labyrinth of lilting leaves, Lies a flimsy dwelling of glassy white. Eight fingers crawl between the latticed blinds Expanding their fortress, conquering woods, Circling, ensnaring the innocent fly, Trapped within blades of the hypnotic web. Pleased with her might, tarantella performed, A commanding glory, to her is due - But a little songbird comes bolting through, The fortress vanquished, dauntlessly it flew. Credulous be that flies to traps and death, With wide wings, rather soar to challenge threats. - Maryam Kaleem