You would often talk about your worries for me..

Then bring out a box of grains

Scattering them on the ground beside us.

Soon a bunch of chirping birds and squirrels

Would join us in all fervor.

As the sunshine shone upon us,

You pointed out names and types of flowers and birds

Then subtly and surely giving me life lessons in between.

We laughed and cried alternatively

At the beauty and pain of this life.

Many times you were too exhausted to talk

And so we just sat…watching the sunset before us.

Something unspoken remained behind

But always a sense of deep acceptance left itself over.

You coughed a lot on many days..

I could sense impending death.

You were old and I saw my inability to change that.

Somedays you begged of me to take care

Somedays we changed roles.

We chanted some holy hymns

And somedays you taught me to breathe.

We spoke of dreams and their erosion

Life and its collisions

Through laughter and tears

The conversations were endless and deep.

Now that you are gone

I come and sit here alone…

Watching the sunset and the birds and the flowers.

Time has swallowed my father

And left me orphaned to fate.

Without my guardian friend…

I just sit and watch

Life repeating itself.