Mauna (A story in Verse)

a poem by Venkatesan P

She made a mansion of marble and gold
Like one depicted in the tales of old,
Trusting that marble walls might shelter
Her only son from misery’s welter,
And charm his poor chagrined heart
Into something like an honied pot.
Still Mauna sighed in a melancholy strait
“Mother something ails my heart.”
Thinking that the cause lies in adolescence
Wedded a winsome girl to him for giving joyance.
She in crimson robes shone round his flowery bed
Like a soft sapphire stringed on a silken thread.
But still he sighed like a murmuring brook
“Mother my heart is empty In every nook.”
Then one night appeared his heart’s delight
In the dream daintily dancing like a sprite,
And humming softly ‘O Mauna ever shall remain
Thine honied name shining in my heart’s domain.
The next morn he arose like a blossomed rose
Shedding all his past bleak remorse,
And laughing like a grief-free schoolboy
Raced to his mother in great joy.