My Daughter

A small child in Tiruchirapalli, India
Called me "Dad";
Even though I am only twenty five
And my girlfriend & I are happy
With our relationship
At where it stands.

To be a father,
You don't need to marry
And Conceive a child.

Instead you can simply visit www.savegirlchild.org
And donate 10 dollars a month;
And simply with that
You can become a father
The careholder of a little child
Across borders
Millions of miles away
In a small village at the middle of nowhere.

Her name is "Asha"
It means hope,
It means she can put behind her dungy days
Sleeping on pavements , crying out loud
Without even an ounce of "roti" and a cup of warm milk
Unbeknownst of her drunk 'father'
Whose one dark whim
In a shady, autumn night
With a hapless and ill fated teenager of barely fifteen years
Created her.

She is five years old now,
They are teaching her Hindi & Malayalam
And a little bit of English.
So that she can stand up
And outpour words and letter in a journal
Fill the pages with light and hope.
She might once write a letter to me as well.

They say she can say "Appa" now
Which means father.
They have told her of me.
I wonder what goes across her little, troubled mind
How she relates to father
Unseen and Unheard
A man who sends few green colored papers to take care of her.

I want to meet "Asha",
Talk to her
Look at her innocent, deep black eyes
And smudgy nose
And call her "Beti".
Run with her in the dusty village road
Which heads to the blue mountains
Peek into her classroom from the window
And watch her learn and grow.
Tell her stories of Rapunzel and Hans Christian Andersen
And how fairy tales are real.

I want to answer all her questions
That visits her mind and tell her how she is so special.
I want to watch her grow every moment
And to see her transformation from a tiny little bud
To a wonderful flower.

I wait for the time
When her hands will hold a pen
And write a letter
Which would look something like this
" Dear Papa,
Wherever you are,
Whatever you do,
I can feel the shower of love and blessings
That is on me always
Because of you.
I have no complaints,
I have no issues.
I have no doubts
For I from the bottom of my heart
Know that I love you
And that you love me too"

She could one day be a Doctor
Or an Engineer
Transform lives of people
Near and About her.

But I feel she will be a Poet
Who would write
Use free , liberated verses
To fight and strive
Against the bitter sweet world
Make it better
Fill it with hope
For more "Asha's".

Whatever she does,
I know my "Asha"
Will make me proud
One day. Someday.



© Nothing Personal. December 21, 2010.

Reviews

[.]

. next year ... i will go and visit her for you ... 99% ... and this message is critical for the anthology ... thank you for this ... (as you know i am freezing the content on thursday so this really helps) ... btw, you are a remarkable father ...

[David Keagan]

that's inspiring. You have very strong emotions, keep up the good work

[Marie Harrison]

Your poem brought tears to my eyes. You truly touched my heart. When I can afford to do this, I feel I must. You're right there is more than one way to be a Mother and a Father in this world. That was my favorite point that you made in this endearing poem. I hope you will be able to meet her one day.

[QC]

speechless once again.

[Praiser]

Beyond beautiful we need more prayer for children with know father and people who would step up to be one we think you, my prayer goes out to her and you
lets pray together so both of y'all dreams can come true , i would love to meet this little girl

[hannajade]

wow, nice!!

[nighttimesnoozer]

awww thast so sweet

[Poeticpiers]

any fool can father a child. It takes a real man to be a dad even by proxy

[Sofia Lara Cruz]

Even as I am still a juvenile girl, I feel as if I am in your position, and it is an inspiring and beautiful poem. I feel that if a poet can make the readers become one with his/her writing, that is when they have reached the point of being true poet. Thank you for enlightening me.

[Geralyn Miller]

Compelling and loving, wonderful and uplifting.
Consider making "Asha" a book, a series of poems written through the years of her growing up would be incredible and inspiring. I know I would love to read such a book.

[Alicia™]

This is one of the sweetest and most thoughtful poems I've ever read… Wonderful. What you're doing is really great!