The Friend Within

I was...
A lost waif in an uncaring city
A tiny boat on tumultous sea
A lone leaf on autumn-ravaged tree
Sans a friend to guide me.

On the road of life, as I wound my way
I hoped against hope that some day,
Somehow, our paths would cross.
Never did I know how wrong I was!

Many were the times that I thought,
That I’d found the friend I had sought.
Then, the house of cards would tumble down
For it was an imposter that I’d found.

But as I travelled on and on,
New hopes, new goals were born.
In the hustle and bustle of life mundane,
The hopes of the past began to wane.

What price friendship, what price love?
‘Twas these that I scorned now.
When riches and glory were mine,
Not for company did I pine!

As life led me to pastures newer,
As goals soared higher, still higher,
The yearnings of youth lost their lure
And frittered away into dreams obscure.

But change, decay, villains of yore,
Crept, unbidden, to my door.
What I thought belonged to me,
Was never mine, never to be.


The world stood revealed to me,
In all its raw brutality.
In that hour of bitter truth,
None to give solace, none to soothe.

Marooned in the isle of solitude,
With none but thoughts to intrude,
I thought-
I’ve sought you, friend, high and low.
But now it seems to me as though,
I was never destined to find you-
You, who could bring me, joy anew.

Then a faint voice, I discerned,
Striving to make itself heard.
‘I have been with you’, it seemed to say,
‘Guiding you along, all the way.


‘Through your days of triumph and fall,
I have been with you; seen them all.
In your success, to rejoice and sorrow, to console,
I have always been your friend- your inner soul.’