Phases

You carried me inside your body

Brought me forth to this world,

I was told.

You fed me, held me

I snuggled instinctively.

You held me, drew me close,

I reciprocated, sought you out,

I remember.

And so it went on, till

Topsy-turvy teen age and

the incipient moustache on my upper lip

made me shun and even protest against

 any physical display of affection.

A little later there were none at all.

I grew in to manhood and you into middle age.

Then came marriage and fatherhood followed

And too soon, middle age is here for me.

Your passage to old age, was it easy

Or painful, I did not have time

To find out, or probably the inclination.

I have come a full circle

And sometimes long for your healing touch

On my scalp, my face

Where life has etched many lines, left many scars

In its wake- Maa.