There a Mother Wept

Dear Mother of my sworn enemy,

My heart ached when I saw you weep -

At the grave of your child,

Whose voice you’ve yearned to hear;

Whose warm hugs you’ve missed.

 

You bought him a new pair of slippers,

A pair of pants for him to wear.

And those were his last requests to you.

You would have expected a smile on his face -

As he would happily put them on and say

“Ka kipah e Nu”

 

In you, I saw my mother.

My mother would weep too -

If her sons have suffered the same fate.

A mother’s love is all the same.

Be it Kuki or Meitei.

 

May your love for your son be a message.

A message to all those sons.

That they too have an anxious mother,

Waiting for them to come back home.

Alive, not dead like yours.