The twilight pyre burning still
Across the sand bed
Towards the slender stream
He led his mother

It punctured his sole
Should not hurt someone else
Plucked out the skeletal scrap
Damp with his blood
And set afloat in the river

From the basil bush
Shed a bunch of leaves
Into the flow gleaming
With dripping sandal paste
Of the dipping Sun

On the son's wound
She dripped the soothing sap
To end the long waiting
Rubbing the mother's shoulder
Whispered the Calotropis
'Though you hid it so long....'

Sharp spiny tips concealed
Beneath the scorching shoal
They rest in waiting
The destitute fatherhoods.