Song for an Un-known Daughter

You’re a child of my twilight years,

Never born to me,

Only visited in a dream

Or was it a vision?

I never heard you yelp in pain

Or groan in agony.

I never sang you lullabies

Or told you bed-time tales

I wasn’t around when your pencil was stolen   

Or your doll went kaput.

I never cuddled you like a doll

Or rocked you to a quiet slumber

I never drew margins in your notebooks

Or solved crazy puzzles for you 

I wasn’t around as a peacemaker

When your brother or sister fought you

Pulling and tugging at your pony-tails   

I wasn’t around when your teen troubles started

Or the pimples sprouted on your face

I didn’t see you through any of those days

Of your childhood and youth

When you missed your mother

Or defied your father

Only sometimes, you told me stories of exile

I could never understand

Though I saw the long haul of pain

And loneliness lurking in your eyes

I had no recipe for your silent questionings   

Only sometimes, when I reached out, hesitatingly  

My words fell short, and my actions failed

O daughter of mine!

You never let me pay the debt

A father often owes his child  

Instead you chose to awaken your good karma

To help you through trials of life   

Cast in gold, your soul now shines

In everything you say or do

The other day,  

When you came in a dream or a vision

Or whatever it was

Flashing messages of ‘moksha’ to me

I was wondering,

Who is the taught, and who the teacher?

Who, the giver and who, the receiver?

Now, I’m not too sure  

If you are only a child of my twilight years

Or my long lost mother, holding my little finger

Leading me back to the same track

From where I had once started out.