Alienating A Child

A kitten, a pup cradled
in your arms, hears your heartbeat,
revels in the warmth
and feels the security of the mother's womb
with your heartbeats gonging, reverberating
through its furry existence.

A helpless sneeze,
peels off the relationship
like a skin of glue, a loose wrapper.
A strange look descends in its eyes
-and it takes long to re-cement the tenuous
ties.

My mother did that once :
spoke of the Judgement Day
when we shall arise from the dead.
No one will recognize any one.
You won't know me, I asked
horror dripping from my limpid words.
No, she said, turning back to her
sewing or stitching,
leaving me out in the eternal cold.

Even today
twenty years after she passed away
I shiver, helplessly.
And wonder.
God, I have a quarrel to pick with you.

(c) Max Babi December 2004