I saw that baby on her mother’s arms.

How quietly she slept, let me tell you.
No fuss, no cuss, not a single wail.
I wondered, oh cruel world,
How exactly would you bring her up to fail?
She plays, she laughs, she fumbles her words,
How will she know what awaits her five years from now?
Her mother nudges her nose softly,
Lest she wakes up from her slumber,
However, I remember that woman from two years before.
Sad then, happy now, cause the baby was her third number.

10 years pass. She had her first heartbreak.

How did the heartbreak make you feel?
That ring impression on your cheeks?
Do you remember how much you had cried that night? 
I am not saying that only I saw your tears, but
yeah… I did see you crying, with such might!
You laid down on me that night for over an hour.
Drunk. Mumbling, and holding his photograph to your chest.
How much I wished I could hug you, wrap you in between my arms.
Wished I could tell you that it wasn’t worth it.
But it would have been a lie, because
I might have been built with scars on my body,
But even I, try very hard, to be the fittest amongst the misfits.

15 years pass. She got married.

I had never seen a bridge, prettier than her!
She looked like a white fairy, scribbled by infinite crayons.
Time held still when I saw her man walking up to her,
Kissing her softly… Reminded me of the time of Babylon.
He seemed like a good man, not like her first.
That first who forced her to lie down on me, and cry.
She was smiling again. She was laughing. Filled with joy.
I could tell; she doesn’t wait anymore for her soul to die.
She paced down the road, almost falling over!
Within the next second, he was the husband, and she was the wife.
I couldn’t help but cry myself. I might be lifeless, still,
You cannot deny that even I am full of life.

8 years pass. I saw a baby in her arms.

40 years. My my! Has it been that long?
I still remember the day when you were a baby;
Crying, and it felt like the dawn’s first song.
And look at you now! Strong as steel, with your baby.
Oh wow! You have picked up your mother’s favourites as well;
Nudging her nose but making sure she doesn’t wake up.
How does that feel? Time has turned back 4 decades, isn’t it?
Now you know why these are the only times,
you would laugh, while your baby cries.

10 years pass. Her baby was a school goer. She was on her deathbed.

Time flew slowly, but it was still fast.
I forgot to journal it when your baby was in her 2nd standard.
She takes after you, I guess.
But I miss you. A lot. I even gave it some thought.
All these years that you passed by me…
I never asked you how you were.
How you were feeling.
I saw you, I took a picture in my mind, but I never asked you.
I made you special in this page of mine,
But you might not feel one, because I never showed how.
I guess, it is all moot now… It is too late now.

1-year pass. Her baby has learnt how to cross the road, on her own.