Drinking Farts

My Chitta had told me

The curse of children won't cure

Even if one drank farts

The ten-year old me was

Befuddled by the logistics 

Of this impossibility 

Chitta had stood there

With her wheezing asthmatic chest

Both hands locked behind her head

Both eyes bulging at me with force

Of her chiding 

I had paused to look in her eyes

I had paused thinking

I had been slower 

In my play with toddler cousins 

My wheezing Chitta appears

Again before me today

The meaning is clear

Children are pure

Their abuse not salvaged

Even with ghastly self-austerity 

Grace saves me as well as others

Kindness and respect heal me too

Gentleness is beauty

And all of everything

Is the plain key

Of restraint

Of pause 

-

Chandni Girija 

Chitta (Malayalam) is the maternal aunt, mother's younger sister

The proverb in Malayalam is "ബാലശാപം വളി കുടിച്ചാലും മാറില്ല"

I responded to Maureen's prompt of writing a spooky poem about cautionary tales from childhood. This however took a different turn. 

Day 19 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | National Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo