Tell Me Father

By Ritik Gautam

Tell me, Father, is there another world?

Where birds can walk on land freely,

Where humans can fly high.

Water on the pond — why always blue?

Perhaps another color, not just a reflection of the sky.

Why must leaves always be green?

Once they leave the trees, they're dry and pale.

The summer sun hurts with its flare,

Yet at dusk, there's a warm, sweet gale.

Father, remember we sowed a seed two days ago?

It has now grown a visible stem.

Everything is changing each passing minute —

How do you and I still look the same?

My dear son, listen—

Penguins have wings but cannot fly.

Remember the airplane we saw yesterday?

Humans are already in the sky.

Pond water is blue, but at night, it's dark.

Water is tintless — in your glass or in a fish jar.

Leaves give food to the plant — that’s why 

they're green.

Fallen leaves still have purpose:

They become fertilizer for another tree.

The summer sun hurts, but it warms us in cold.

The dusk you found playful —

In winter, you hid in your quilt like an invisible ghost.

Dear son, a seed is destined to grow —

To one day offer you shade.

Everything is temporary;

Only change is constant.

But you and I —

we'll forever stay the same.

By Ritik Gautam