dear Aama,
your daughter is becoming a woman.
today mother did not take no for an answer.
she put her feet in your shoes and climbed
a mountain in a foreign landscape.
they were calling her delirious. your shoes are taking her
places they denied you.
they were warning her but she is inexorable today.
the air carries your prayers.
she has never felt closer to home. she is leaving traces behind every footstep and it was raining
but the concavity of her footsteps endure.
her fingernails are filled with dirt.
she is building castles atop mountains. they told her she wasn’t loud enough. they have no idea.
her voice is ultrasonic today.
and she wants to scream.
she wants the world to know. instead she whispers,
i wish you were here.
Aama passed away at home in Itahari, Nepal on July 12, 2019 at the age of 74 amidst all her children and grandchildren.
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