To Father: A Poem Poem by Kumar Vikram

To Father
--
Sometimes you should pick up poetry
And read them aloud
Feel the sound of words
Search for their varied meanings
In dictionaries and thesauruses
Before hitting at the exact meaning
Suitable to yourself
To your inner being
To your purposes—
Thus would say father
Who would often be seen
Reading aloud
Poets he loved most
Keats or Kabir
But always kept aside his book
With a smile
When I as a child
rushed into his readings
And occupied his lap
As if he had found the meaning
That he was searching for
In poetry and in words and
in dictionaries!
—Kumar Vikram
2020