Father, son and the gunny bag

A ponderous gunny bag my father carried.
His father bequeathed it to him, he said.

In the beginning it was small.
He also remembers having carried it
ever since he was a toddler.

In his youth, before he plunged headlong
into the business of life, he said,
he used to sift the bag's contents.
That was the time when the sieve had
all its eyes open, but would not sift
matter beyond its measure.

When he came with different heaps
of facts, truths, half truths, untruths
and pure lies, it was not to his
father's liking, he remembers.

In the ennui of middle age
he mixed them all up, what a surprise!
There were two bags full now.
Well, that was not a problem, I was there,
though just a toddler, to share the burden.

He wobbled alongside me, teaching me
how glorious it was to carry around
such a hoary burden.
His bent back was humility and
mine was called obedience.

By and by my biceps bulged and
shoulders rounded up in full manhood.
I could carry my father's weighty legacy
with ease; nonetheless, I chose to
walk with a slouch in pretended obedience.

Attempting a cosmetic change to suit the times,
I transferred the contents to a synthetic bag.
"Am I carrying dead weight? What if I
drop the burden and stand erect?",
a question sprouted.
Scandalized, I chided my suspicious little intellect
and took refuge in my noted obedience.

All along the way people threw their refuse
in our beloved bag, which was ever growing.
Somewhere along the seams
thing started trickling down.
In the leakage, I was startled to discover
some truths, some facts,
some half truths, some untruths
and, well, some sparkling lies.

It was time for me to embark upon
the despicable job of sifting.
A job fit for heretics, infidels and the gutsy.
A job, it appears, that would
take the rest of my life
only to leave it unfinished.



I would bequeath my little son
not a gunny bag
not a synthetic one
but a velvet pouch
nursing in its bowels
gold nuggets, raw diamonds,
corals and moonstone.

Let him find out
what do with them.

ooOoo