A Mother Forgets and the Daughter Goes Around in Circles
By Farah Sheikh
She brings me a box of chocolates
Knowing very well I don’t like them
Walking out of windows
She forgets the house has doors
Morsels of food rest in her mouth
Loads of laundry wait their turn
While the backyard grass grows tall
I tell her to come sit with me
As the tea brews over the countertop
Bemused, she glances at me
A lump in the throat I try hard to swallow
And wait an eternal wait
To acknowledge my human face
Shimmers of remembrance erupt in her eyes
And my lap becomes her warm home
Retrieving lost memories at a snail’s pace
Mother and daughter connect
And just like that
I go around in circles and start all over again
Farah Sheikh is a Lucknow-born Bangkok-based freelance editor. After graduating from Lady Shri Ram College, she pursued Mass Communication from Jamia Millia Islamia. She has worked with Dorling Kindersley Publishing and the Rekhta Foundation. She enjoys Urdu poetry, world cinema, vernacular literature and talking to her plants. One of her poems has recently been published by Borderless Journal.