The Womb – Poems on Mother , Father , Children , Parenthood – Volume 1 by Nikhil Parekh - HTML preview

40. THE PERFECT HOUSEWIFE

She knew precisely when her baby would sweat; the things that perturbed him the most,

While he was profoundly oblivious to his surroundings; diligently mulling over the sheets of mundane office papers strewn haphazardly on his desk. 

She tossed her baby high in the air; scrupulously catching him in her arms;cuddling it with her perennial warmth,

While the moment he caressed it with his barbaric palms; it started to obstreperously cry. 

She pinched her baby dexterously on umpteenth regions of his flesh; prompting him to inevitably smile,

While he guffawed on the phone with his business partner; made the child tremble by the impact of his hoarse voice. 

She ran waywardly in the spongy grass; trying to chase her baby; instigating him to utilize his tiny feet,

While he admonished the toddler stringently; rebuking him for partially dismantling the furniture. 

She bathed her baby in a concoction of soft soap and tones of soapy froth;

afterwards allowing him to randomly roll in the wet mud,

While he stared unrelentingly at the computer with open mouthed consternation;

slapped the toddler when he noticed the disdainful blemishes that it had left on the immaculate floor. 

She incessantly kept her child in her arms for indefatigable hours until it slept;

chanting a blend of fairy tale and music to pacify its mind,

While he snatched him savagely from her hands; shoving him roughly in his cradle;

ordered her to get ready for the ostentatious party. 

She bought her baby a battalion of innovative toys; amusing him by ringing jingling bells in his intricate ear,

While he yelled at her for wasting exorbitant amounts investing in the plastic; slammed the door behind her back and retired to sleep. 

She devoted marathon hours in the day; endeavoring to teach her baby to coherently speak and write,

While he castigated her; locked the child in a room; complaining that she didn’t pay

attention to his overwhelming tiredness. 

She couldn’t bear the tyranny of staying even a minute away from her child; keeping him in close proximity 24 hours unleashing in the entire day,

While he would go on tours for fortnights on the trot; many a times forgetting that he had procreated his sibling. 

She had earned no money for herself; neither was she ambitious for surreal fame;

her proudest possession being her innocuous toddler,

Was tenaciously involved in maintaining the plethora of tasks circumventing her household; refraining entirely to confront the monotonous world,

Yet being penurious; she proclaimed herself to be the richest in this world; as she was the perfect mother; what we could define in common parlance as the perfect housewife.