It’s hard to believe that you are entering your seventies soon
You still seem to me the sweet mother of yore.
You’ve sweat blood for us, for me and brothers two,
With father by your side, as a pillar of support, true.

Even now as I think of the way you’ve toiled
Balancing your work between office and home,
My eyes turn wet for the care so perfect.
At the expense of your health you have worked for our best,
Caring not for rest, duty always first.

And now that you are old, your children well-settled,
Each leading their own lives, in the way they think is best,
It makes us proud to feel that shattered dreams of yours
You’ve never thrust on us.

Bad times you’ve tided, with all the courage in the world
You’ve always been for us, a friend, philosopher and guide.
Your zest for learning things, with age being no bar,
Has always inspired us, me and brothers too.

And now at the zenith of your life, you are the guiding light of our life
Basking in the warmth of your love, we’ll walk the path you have laid
Remembering one thing in our minds-
“How famous to become, we will think not of that,
How best we make of life, is what will matter most.”

(A tribute to my mother – On her sixty-ninth birthday)