Poem: The Matriarch

The Peepal tree that rubs against the glass of my French Window. I never looked at it till I saw… the Matriarch.

The Matriarch

The Ides of March just went past

The belief belies the bravado

A mirage, like the passing cloud

Promise they say, is giving hope

A rainless summer devolves lives

Life itself is a mystery for many

Livelihood like the entangled roots

The Peepal tree just outside my window.

The Matriarch — the word grows on me

So strong that Earth clings to its roots

At service, to the soil and the skies

The unshaken, twisted, and tempered columns

Calloused trunks, numb to the caressing breeze

The years show, yet still and strong

With a whiff and a rustle, a dance party starts

The leaves dangle and dazzle in green.

A slight dither, and then the jiggle

Some suffering the stillness of struggle

Then those, brown, barren, and brittle,

The transience of the tiny tots adorns her head.

The gawking little mouths searching for morsels

Hunger and home, that is all they know

Somewhere, the desperate search for worms

Who is talking about the wind beneath their wings?

The Matriarch, still, strong yet silent

Safety and strength to the quibblings.

I search for life, I see livelihood

Hunger, coziness, safety and strength

Duty is never done and dusted

If only, the Matriarch had a heart

Maybe there is — behind the tangles

Of the calloused trunk that won’t show.

~Ashok Subramanian © 2024

This woman whose heart has seen yours,
First before anybody else in the world,
And whose womb had opened the door
For your eyes to experience light and more —
Is your very own MOTHER.

― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem