My Good Old Mother
-By Tanuel Nonang
“Why do I feel sad?” I asked “when I have it all?”
When I have everything to keep together my body and soul
Why I feel cold, so cold during the night?
Have I done something wrong, which I cannot make right?
Then I realized I lost something so dear,
My good old mother, alas! Now I fear
That I’ll have to live alone without her now
O cruel the Death! Using his scythe on lives to mow
How stupid was I to overlook the love of motherly bosom
Which kept me alive in the forest of life to blossom
Highest was my height of insolence when I didn’t care
For the toys she bought me from the village fair
When I became a man, Cleopatra’s beauty died in her
Weak body, memory and wrinkles grew on her
My good old mother, begging for her son’s love
Came near him, but all he gave was a shove
Now that she’s not here on earth, I miss her
And every time I look up in the clouds I see her
Sometimes pouring her tears upon me
Sometimes warm rays on my face I see
Someday I will go up there and beg her
To forgive me for the things I have done to her
But for now I can only cry and miss her
My long lost mother, my good old mother
