Fatherhood, Love’s austere and lonely office
Happy Father's Day to everyone who is celebrating or remembering their father today. We're sending our love to you all with a few poems ...
Happy Father's Day to everyone who is celebrating or remembering their father today. We're sending our love to you all with a few poems about fatherhood that express love, admiration, and praise for fathers, as well as some that walk us through the dark alleys of ageing while inspecting the ever-evolving relationship between fathers and their children.
1. Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden
Sundays too my father got up early and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold, then with cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday weather made banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him. I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking. When the rooms were warm, he’d call, and slowly I would rise and dress, fearing the chronic angers of that house, Speaking indifferently to him, who had driven out the cold and polished my good shoes as well. What did I know, what did I know of love’s austere and lonely office.
2. Yesterday by William Stanley Merwin
My friend says I was not a good son you understand I say yes I understand he says I did not go to see my parents very often you know and I say yes I know even when I was living in the same city he says maybe I would go there once a month or maybe even less I say oh yes he says the last time I went to see my father I say the last time I saw my father he says the last time I saw my father he was asking me about my life how I was making out and he went into the next room to get something to give me oh I say feeling again the cold of my father's hand the last time he says and my father turned in the doorway and saw me look at my wristwatch and he said you know I would like you to stay and talk with me oh yes I say but if you are busy he said I don't want you to feel that you have to just because I'm here I say nothing he says my father said maybe you have important work you are doing or maybe you should be seeing somebody I don't want to keep you I look out the window my friend is older than I am he says and I told my father it was so and I got up and left him then you know though there was nowhere I had to go and nothing I had to do.
3. Father's song by Gregory Orr
Yesterday, against admonishment, my daughter balanced on the couch back, fell and cut her mouth. Because I saw it happen I knew she was not hurt, and yet a child's blood so red it stops a father's heart. My daughter cried her tears; I held some ice against her lip. That was the end of it. Round and round: bow and kiss. I try to teach her caution; she tries to teach me risk.
4. My Son wants to know who his biological father is by Blas Falconer
My son wants to know his name. What does he look like? What does he like? My son swims four days a week. When my son swims underwater, he glides between strokes. When he glides underwater, he is an arrow aimed at a wall. Four days a week, his coach says, Count—1…2…—before coming up for air. My father had blue eyes, blonde hair, though mine are brown. My father could not speak Spanish and wondered, How can you love another man? We rarely touched. When my son is counting, I count with him. I say, I am your father, too. 1…2…
5. टेलिफ़ोन पर पिता की आवाज़ / नीलेश रघुवंशी
टेलीफ़ोन पर थरथराती है पिता की आवाज़ दिये की लौ की तरह काँपती-सी। दूर से आती हुई छिपाए बेचैनी और दुख। टेलीफ़ोन के तार से गुज़रती हुई कोसती खीझती इस आधुनिक उपकरण पर। तारों की तरह टिमटिमाती टूटती-जुड़ती-सी आवाज़। कितना सुखद पिता को सुनना टेलीफ़ोन पर पहले-पहल कैसे पकड़ा होगा पिता ने टेलीफ़ोन। कड़कती बिजली-सी पिता की आवाज़ कैसी सहमी-सहमी-सी टेलीफ़ोन पर। बनते-बिगड़ते बुलबुलों की तरह आवाज़ पिता की भर्राई हुई पकड़े रहे होंगे टेलीफ़ोन देर तक अपने ही बच्चों से दूर से बातें करते पिता।
6.पिता की इच्छाएँ / आशीष त्रिपाठी
पिता जीते हैं इच्छाओं में पिता की इच्छाएँ उन चिरैयों का झुंड जो आता है आँगन में रोज़ पिता के बिखराए दाने चुगने वे हो जाना चाहते हैं हमारे लिए ठंडी में गर्म स्वेटर और गर्मी में सर की अँगौछी हमारी भूख में बटुओं में पकते अन्न की तरह गमकना चाहते हैं पिता हमारी थकान में छुट्टी की घंटी की तरह बजना चाहते हैं वे पिता घर को बना देना चाहते हैं सुनार की भट्ठी वे हमें खरा सोना देखना चाहते हैं लगता है कभी-कभी इच्छाएँ नहीं होंगी तो क्या होगा पिता का गंगा-जमुना की आख़िरी बूँद तक पिता देना चाहते हैं चिरैयों को अन्न पिता, बने रहना चाहते हैं पिता ।