Another Letter from Another Father to Another Son

"Another Letter from Another Father to Another Son" is a popular English poem by the award winning Indian poet Mathew John. The poem won the first prize^[1] in the All India Poetry Competition conducted by The Poetry Society (India) in 2013.

Excerpts from the poem

Sonny, it is not my wish to advise you

Though my tongue yearns to be advisor to the king.

Sonny, it is not my wish to advise you

Though this may end up as another piece of advice

In another letter from another father to another son.

*******

For, it took years for my father's sermons

To traverse the miles between my ears and my brain

And I learnt about most things

After enough follies had been past.

Let me tell you a single thing

The way to go, seems to me

From life to the book

And not the other way around.

*******

So, let life teach you before your father's words

And let life teach you to outgrow

The interesting stories that other people tell.

For, nobody is really very sure.

Earlier they used to tell

Never look beyond the wall

Now, they have built

A ladder for you to climb.

******

But, nobody is really very sure

About the wall, forget the ladder.

Very few boxes have been opened, my son

It is still an interesting world out there.

So, let me not offer you

A book, a window, a jigsaw puzzle or my reading glasses

Let me give you just these –

My silence and my smile.

See also

• Indian poetry
• Indian writing in English
• The Poetry Society (India)

Notes

• Popular Indian Poems