Achintya: My Son

It has been three months since your birth.

You have brought so much happiness to us!

I hope and wish it remains the same.

It is not that we expect you to make us happy;

It is just that we want you to be happy,

Because it is a delight watching your happiness.

I especially enjoy when you tease your mother;

When you wake up at three in the morning

And play all by yourself - smiling and grinning

(The funny sounds you make are hilarious) -

Wiggling your tiny little arms and legs,

While your mother is worried that you don't rest...

And she has all the time in the world

To take pictures of you and share them with me.

And sometimes you sleep all night long, blissfully.

But then, you trouble your mother again;

She whimpers that you have not been fed for hours!

Meanwhile, I take the comfort of laughing for myself

(Without letting her know).

These little experiences
Have made me discover

That there is still a child in myself,

Who has been sleeping all along
Ever since I turned into a man.

Now he has awakened again,

To relive the joy of childhood.

I pray to the God Almighty to bless us:

With courage and strength in helping you

To grow with good health and wisdom,

Filled with purity and compassion,

While we'll always be your ever-loving parents.

For Achintya, my son

June 6, 2017