My mother and I sit on a small piece of patio,
Where once she sat alone.
She shows me a bird’s nest
Two tiny birds sleeping close together.
The mother bird comes with food,
The little ones wake and open their mouths.
With her beak, she feeds them softly.
My mother watches and smiles,
“How lovely,” she says.
I ask her quietly,
“Why is a mother’s love so pure?”
She does not answer with words,
She only laughs
And kisses my forehead.
Now I sit in the same place,
But she is not here.
Only memories sit beside me.
Days never end,
But people do—right?
Sometimes these questions visit my mind.
Yesterday my mother,
Tomorrow, me.
Everyone ends when their time comes.
Blood, bones, and skin
Return to the mud.
Days go on without stopping,
This ending is called death.
I believe God made it this way.
People end
To fill the endless days of heaven.
A place with no night or morning,
Where souls have wings
And play gentle harps.
There, I will meet my mother again,
Wearing an angel’s dress.
God made all these creations.
He is the best parent
He knows what to give,
What makes us better?
We are dolls in His dollhouse,
And he enjoys our little play.
The play never ends.
I’m Manasa Reddy Chichili, and I have a Post Graduate in Psychology,
a poet and short story writer from Hyderabad, Telangana. My haiku and tanka have been published in several journals such as Under the Basho, Mainichi Haiku, Awen, Atlantean Publishing among others.
My longer poems have also been published on PoetryPotion and Neccheli. My haiku was nominated for the Touchstone Award (2025), and I have also dabbled in writing haikus directly in Japanese (in haikutown.jp).