When parents get old
and they don’t pick your calls,
you don’t think that
the phone is discharged,
they might be at a grihapravesh,
they are too tired & have slept early.
You presume the inevitable.
You call the neighbors
asking them to check on your mother —
a diabetic with high blood pressure — and
your father with a rickety liver.
You hold your breath
until there’s an assurance of their safety,
until the single ticks in your family group
become double,
until the parent in you becomes their child again.
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