A relative choice

I am not interested
in your wealth, dear
relative, I am interested
in you.
What you do with your
hard-earned money
is your choice, your
own point of view.

Relative! Didn’t you hear
the news? That there was
this renowned ghazal singer
who willed his fortune among
the most trusted men, women,
and children he knew?
His watchman, milkwoman,
newspaper boy, his faithful
servant, and his iron man,
(Ha! Ha!), the one who pressed
his dhoti and shirt anew.
These were the persons who
took care of him, and so he
exercised his due.

By not making his relatives
his beneficiary, he made none
of them a culprit.
So, dear relative, before you
leave the dais, take the cue,
rid yourself from fear and
doubt, breathe easy, be out
of your opulent guilt.

I am not interested in your
wealth, dear relative, I am
interested in you.

Note: This is a challenge we face mainly in our country. There are these relatives who don't know what to do with their wealth. Therefore, they live in perpetual suspicion and abject fear. I sincerely feel for them and want to help them realize that they have every right to do what they feel with their wealth.