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Maternity: A poem by Gulnar Raheem Khan

 Not the least am I bothered, my son,
That you should abandon me to my strife,
Alone in a silent, solitary world;
 It’s dark and gloom, with no light or life.
You climbed on my shoulders to view the world,
When you had seen enough, you just walked away;
Mothers before me have been used this way,
Like ladders to reach the top, then kicked away.
But, my son, you could not take away with you,
My cherished memories of me and you!
I shall read from this treasure, a page a day,
That will keep me alive until my dying day.
I worry about the guilt that will torment you,
When you realize one day, and I’m sure you will do!
That day, you will not find your voice to say
“I ‘m sorry, mother, that I did this to you”
I may then be listening from a different land;                                                                                            
And for the first time in all these years,
I may not be there to hold your hand,
And to wipe away your tears!