She Was My Hero

A Poem by Devashish Kumar

It was a complete mess.

Loads and loads of things,

From soiled hosiery to paper cups

From books to each piece of clothing I ever had

Were thrown everywhere around in the room.

The whole place looked robbed.

Cleaning the room and keeping things in order

Was never my responsibility.

It was hers.

She would nag about it all the time.

She would ask

What I’d do without her.

This was the one question I never wanted to know the answer.

May be that was why,

I was reluctant to clean the place.

Deep down, I believed,

If I waited long enough,

She would figure I could not manage without her

And she would come back

And clean up the mess.

But weeks had gone,

I still had no clue about her whereabouts.

Why would she do that to me?

I was the love of her life.

“Enough is enough.

I am going to clean this mess.

I don’t need her.”

Enraged, I decided to start with books.

Books were the second best thing in my life.

They’d keep my company always.

Then I saw the book, which she bought me

When we moved to the countryside.

As I picked that book,

A small turquoise-y peacock feather fell.

The falling feather brought to me

A series of memories-

A mix of sad and happy moments with her.

After we moved here, we went to a park

In hope, it would cheer me up.

And it did cheer me up.

We played, we laughed.

At a distance, there was a peacock,

Boasting its colourful feathers.

I’d never seen a peacock before.

Amazed, I found a feather it had left behind.

Which I insisted to keep.

She placed it in the book

We just bought.

I still tremble sometimes,

When sights of my drunkard father beating her cross my mind.

He would abuse her and do sick things to her,

Still she would say he was my father

And I ought to respect him.

How could I?

And one time, he beat me.

He beat me with a belt

Because she bought a ‘stupid’ book for me

Instead of a bottle of bear.

That was the last time

I’d seen him.

She decided we would move away

Without any second thoughts.

“You’re meant for great things.”

She would always say.

She did odd jobs,

Tailoring, waitressing, private tutoring,

So that we could manage my school bills, rent

And square meals a day,

Probably ignoring her health.

She sacrificed everything for me.

When she’d me, she left her job to look after me.

After we moved here,

Things were supposedly normal.

But she was going great troubles

To make ends meet,

With a smile on her face, she kept going.

At that instant, I knew she would never leave me.

She was still watching me,

Probably telling the stars

About her 'childish' son.

“I will make you proud.”

I promised to my Mom, my hero.

… And I am still trying.

© 2015 Devashish Kumar

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Reviews

Prynka

What a gripping tale Devashish i could not move an inch while reading. Yes she was the real Hero. From womb to tomb mother is always a mother no matter how many roles she has but being mother tops the list. You are a lucky child to have such a strong mother - a mother you stood by you. I wish you all the very best to make her proud, she deserves it.