My Mother Always

My mother always is the best cook,

She knows by heart every recipe book

From six in the morn to ten in the night

She will be in the kitchen putting things right.

Pasta, pizza or a burger

She knows how to blow away my hunger.

Before breakfast, after supper or way past my bedtime,

She will always make a snack for me anytime.

One fine morning, I heard a shout,

My mother had her hand on her mouth.

A small rat had jumped into the pot of boiling soup.

It writhed and shrieked before dying in the coup.

The image of the dead rat stayed always in my mother’s mind

I never again saw her cook a thing right;

My mother always was the best cook,

She used to know by heart every recipe book.

- Varnit Banthia