Dashrath ‘दशरथ’ | Poem by Jeevan Labh

My son has left me,
Such a curse you’ve given him,
My dearest.
Fourteen years in wilderness,
And I live in loneliness.

Was it your request?
Or a result of my quest
Of which I have no remembrance,
Such is the life of loneliness.

Was it in my dream,
that my sons returned to me
and blessed my feet and
restored warmth to my core?
I don’t know anymore.
Such is the life of loneliness.

I wish I never had
the gift of hearing,
now the cries of childless parents
haunts my moments.
Such is the life of loneliness.

The hurt is too much
and the pain unbearable.
I wish for even my enemies
not to suffer
with this life of childless loneliness.

Do not bring the food tonight
Oh maid,
Corpses don’t eat.
For I’ll be gone of late
Along with my life of loneliness.

-Jeevan Labh