Seorang gadis kecil sedang termenung sedih melihat luka luka masa kecilnya, namun hangat lembut pelukan dari dirinya yang dewasa perlahan menarik bibirnya sehingga terbentuklah senyum manis pada kedua bibir kecil itu lagi.
Mereka berdua bersama sama, diiringi angin sepoi dan hangatnya mentari, mengukir sebuah sajak di tanah taman.
Life, as I have known it, is like the sharing of morsels - hand to mouth.
Perchance ye remember - the olden tools of eating, once layered in dust -
Ye did cleanse them, that they might become my vessel.
And so they were.
Yet naught in life is perfect.
Suddenly, I didst cough -
A hidden blemish slipped unseen,
And found its way deep within the soul of thy child.
Still, I said: “So be it - such is life.”
Those sullied seams were never of thy fault.
Ye have given thy utmost to me -
That much I know, and know full well.
Thou who didst bear me in thine own flesh and labor,
Be not burdened by thoughts of failing in thy nurture.
Be at peace, for I have spoken with the Keeper of Days.
I have read the scroll of life, and traced its lineage.
“Too wise for thine age,” thou didst oft chide - and rightly so.
Thou who held me fast in storm and sun,
Feel not that thou hast faltered in honouring me.
Think not thou hast failed in thy watchful guard.
I have grown freely beneath thy shield -
Because of thy broad breast and steadfast striving.
Dreams, aye, they did crumble.
And I - I perished,
Melted into the hush of a thousand silences.
But mark me well - this was never thy sin.
These were coins I was bidden to pay -
So I might sit at counsel with my Lord.
This be the path writ upon the stars.
Whosoever would sow
Must first rend open the hardened earth.
O gentle dame, O noble sire,
Know this -
I am a resolute player upon life’s great stage.
All my wounds, and my sky-bound hopes,
I have buried deep within my ocean -
So none may see, nor scent them.
There, within those unseen tides,
I do battle, bold and silent,
And converse with the Keeper of Breath.
Ye who brought me forth in toil and vow,
Should ye one day discover that I was torn asunder -
Let it be known: this was a war of mine own choosing.
Should ye learn of the bitter draughts I have drunk -
Of the salt that hath touched my tongue
Then believe this:
There is no crack nor crevice in your love I do regret.
These are teachings sent from the Most High
Of this I am most certain.
So when I dance once more,
Let it be understood:
Not one inch of my scars require your sorrow.
All is but tapestry woven
By the hands of the Almighty.
And I -
I have begun to unravel His riddle.
Fret not, thou who cradled my first breath,
For thy child is no grumbler of fate -
She is a solver of the riddles of Heaven.
And she delights in the Game.
So when at last I stand revealed,
And all I have hidden
Walks forth into your eyes and ears -
Pray, let not my pain trouble thee.
It is but the echo
Of prayers and whispers with the Divine.
Rejoice, always, ye who gave me passage
Let me dance freely
Within the game I did choose.
Though our tongues do oft tangle,
Though I resist thy nearness
And crave the silence of my own keeping -
Think not my heart hath wandered afar.
I simply seek my own time and space.
Though we, in our journey, bear flaw and friction -
Still I
Now, and with unshaken heart:
Ye were chosen rightly
To be the vessels of my birth.
Truly,
I am ever grateful
To be thy child.