A Daughter Original in Hindi by Neena Dighe Translated into English by Sushama Karnik

A Daughter

My daughter, my darling child, is leaving us.

 She is leaving us to enter the precincts of her new life where her beloved has a home for her.   

She will go, but her father’s home will never be the same.

Her absence will speak in the

 neglected flower-beds and the bowers of love.

Every time we look at those wilted gardens

We will know

That her place was not here;

She belonged to another home and another garden;

And there she is gone

Where she belonged.

She came into this world silently.

There was a quiet solicitude, but no celebration.

Now as we are giving her away as a gift to be cherished

There is the music and there is shehnai,

The festive air of rows of lights;

She is being given away as a gift

And it is a time to rejoice.

While she played in this courtyard

We watched with delight

Every laughter of hers and the smile

That brightened our hearts and filled us with pride

That this is our daughter; this is our child.

We look at this little garden she nurtured,

The saplings she planted and watched them grow,

Nourished their roots, fertilized them and waited to see them blossom and flower.

We see this frail tulsi, the mythical bride of Krishna,

And remember how this little bride-like plant

Filled her little heart with a trembling joy

As she saw the first ever delicate blossom coming shyly to greet the light of the day with a virgin delight.

Today that girl belongs to another world,

Our own tulsi will be a part of another soil

Where she will find her roots again.

May her roots grow strong and deep

And her blossoms may bring forth the fragrance of her heart.