Do you ever hear the echoes that warm the heart? The ones that memories bring to you?

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Poetic Sundays: Of Echoes that Warm the Heart

Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt is inspired by Amarjit Chandan‘s poem “Uncle Mohan Singh,” which recounts, with a sort of dreaminess, a memory of the titular uncle playing the accompaniment to a silent film. Our challenge is to write our own poem that recounts a memory of a beloved relative, and something they did that echoes through our thoughts today.

Echoes That Never Fade

Sometimes the people we love leave us not with grand gestures, but with echoes – a voice, a cleverness, a longing for a friend. These are two memories I hold close, each one a quiet reminder that love doesn’t fade.

For my grandfather

He sent his world ahead on a cart of faith,
Stayed behind a while, bound by duty’s weight.
When all was done, he walked through dust and heat,
Barefoot among a thousand weary feet.

Days turned to weeks, and then to more,
Until one evening came – a knock on a door.
It opened, then almost closed on a stranger worn,
Then opened wide at a voice well-loved, well-known.

So it was that his voice, grown rough by dust and time,
Still carried home; the same, and yet sublime.
Though road and ruin marked his weary frame,
The voice that crossed the threshold was the same.

For my aunt

Her curry leaf tree was decades ahead of its time,
A viral social connector; app-less, sublime.
And she, the keeper of every passing story,
Her smile, her tree – a sweet hook for all and sundry.

Her premise was simple; she waited by the gate,
Catching every pause the tree would create;
For every leaf she plucked with care,
Unfurled a story, held them there.

“A few leaves?” — the offer sweet,
But never was the pause complete.
Names and places, threads she’d weave,
Till time itself forgot to leave.

Reflection

One voice — my grandpa’s — lives only in memory now.
Time has softened the stories, yet somehow
They remain vivid: his voice, the distinct sound,
Layering itself through the memories, tightly wound.

The other — my aunt’s — still lingers here,
Though age has softened her chatter, once clear.
Once constant and vibrant, never at pause,
Her voice now whispers like her curry-leaf boughs.

Both voices stay with me in essence,
One through remembrance, one through presence.
Together, they show love’s echoes never fade;
They simply change tone – and still, they’ve stayed.

~ Vidya Tiru @ LadyInReadWrites

The backstory for my grandpa’s poem

In 1947, my grandfather was working in Dhaka. As the borders changed and their world rearranged itself, my grandfather sent his family ahead and stayed behind to finish his work, then followed them on foot, rejoining them in Gwalior, Central India after weeks of travel.

Recently

On My Blog and On the Home Front

These posts made their way out into the world on my blog this past week:

• Jubilant and Jolly J Has You Jumping for Joy
• Interesting ‘I’ Words: Exploring Immanence and More
• How to Have a Hootenanny With a Hyrax
• Girl, All that Glimmers is Always Gold, Right?
• Fun Words That Start With F: A Flibbertigibbet’s Firkin Full of Flummery
• Elsewhere, Elsewhen: Extraordinary E’s for Everyone and More
• Sunday Scribblings #249: Why Some Hate Clover So Much

On the home-front, not much…

Upcoming

On My Blog and Home front

Continuing my A–Z, obviously… and it’s shaping up to be a quite quiet week (well, that’s what I said this time last year too!). It will be quiet in one sense—spring break at the school means I’m home—but also quietly busy as I play catch-up on coursework for my teaching credentials and make my rounds commenting on this month’s blogging challenges.

Otherwise, yes… a quite quiet week. 😉

This Week’s Celebrations

Literary Celebrations (close-to-it also!)

• Literary birthdays this week of April include: Samuel Beckett and Seamus Heaney on the 13th of April; Mireille Guiliano on April 14th; Henry James and Jeffrey Archer on the 15th; Carol Bly and Tracy K Smith on April 16th; Nick Hornby on the 17th of April; Alexandra Adornetto on the 18th; Stanley Fish on the 19th
• National Scrabble Day and  International Special Librarians Day are observed on April 13th
• It is National ASL Day on the 15th
• Followed by World Semicolon Day and Support Teen Literature Day on the 16th
• Next up, the 17th observes National Haiku Day
• While the 18th celebrates National Columnists’ Day
• April 19th is Poetry & The Creative Mind Day

Foodie Celebrations

• The week ends with National Peach Cobbler Day and National Make Lunch Count Day on the 13th of April
• It is National Pecan Day on the 14th
• Then it is National Banana Day on the 15th of April
• Followed by, of course the 16th of April, which is National Eggs Benedict Day and International Pizza Cake Day
• April 17th observes National Cheeseball Day
• Then it is National Animal Crackers Day on the 18th
• While the 19th of April observes National Garlic Day and National Banana Day

Other Celebrations

• National Silly Earring Day and International Plant Appreciation Day are observed on April 13th
• April 14th is full of observations; I mean, it observes National Dolphin Day,  National Reach as High as You Can Day, Look Up at the Sky Day, National Gardening Day, and International Moment of Laughter Day. We celebrate the Tamil New Year on the 14th this year.
• Followed by National Rubber Eraser Day, National Take a Wild Guess Day, Universal Day of Culture, and World Art Day on April 15th
• Then it is National Orchid Day and  World Voice Day on the 16th of April
• And the 17th of April is well……. Blah Blah Blah Day and, weirdly, also,
  International Day of Mastering Conversations That Matter. It is No Limits for Deaf Children Day and World Circus Day as well.
• While the 18th is Adult Autism Awareness Day, International Jugglers Day, International Day for Monuments and Sites, International Amateur Radio Day, National Velociraptor Awareness Day(👍🏻, it is a day!), National Exercise Day, and Record Store Day, among many other observations, followed by
• The 19th is Refresh Your Goals Day, Husband Appreciation Day, and Go Fly a Kite Day

Wrapping up my Sunday Scribblings

So dear reader, you have reached the end of this Sunday Scribblings! As always, I welcome your thoughts, comments, and suggestions about this post. And do let me know if you plan to celebrate any of these mentioned celebrations this coming week/month?

Linking this to the Sunday Post over at the Caffeinated Reviewer and the Sunday Salon. Also linking up to UBC, NaPoWriMo

And you can find all my A-Z+ posts (this year and previous years’ as well) here:

A to Z Challenge Posts