Love in the Hard Times

K Radhakumar
Came he, a big smile on his face
And full of life
In the dead of night.
He radiated happiness
And I had to smile at it.
When we got together,
We talked about the finer things in life
Something close to my heart.
He gave a patient hearing
As was his wont.
From the vivid dream I woke
And thought of jotting down
What transpired between the two of us.
As luck would have it,
My notepad and pen
Were not on the bedside table.
My encounter with him!
Still drunk I was with happiness –
A sweet moment it was
I could pour out my heart
To him, my daddy.
The scheme of things
Made me sleepy
And I slept solidly for hours.

I woke to a fresh and clear morning
And tried to tell last night’s dream
To my wife.
Words failed me;
I could not tell her
How happy I was.
‘It’s nothing but your dream’,
She told me in a matter-of-fact way.
I was in doubt
Why I was so enthusiastic
About telling her my dream.
Perhaps she read my mind
Perhaps not
And she told me with a smile,
‘The dead do not come to you
At dead of night ,
It’s you
Who go to the kingdom of death.
Your daddy, my father-in-law
Lived in your dream
But in reality he died a decade ago’.