Friends in need are friends indeed

Friends in need are friends indeed
P K Routray
Edited by P Gaam

We were of the same age
We grew in the same village
We went to school together
But I left them behind probably to go higher and higher
Time has passed by
To meet them again I failed to try
Office duty, duty for the family and complex social responsibilities
Kept me too busy till I attained my sixties
Now for me it is retirement
Both from service and domestic predicament
It gives me time to think of life in all its beauty
So far I have neglected under the plea of so called duty
With heavy sigh of grief
Life I feel is so brief
The friends and friendship of childhood
With activities taken in a volatile mood
Give me now enough pleasure
When I fondly remember and analyze the hidden treasure.
We were wicked in our innocence
Caught every time for our value nuisance.
We fought and did forget
Complained and carried but laughed when we met
There were never an end to our chat
For us all kinds of issues and topics were vast
Some did well and laurels they could get
In our eyes they were teachers’ pet
stealing of mangoes and innocently cheating others.
Bring us joy after so many years.
Time you thief and so much a cruel
Robbed our life’s niceties to make it complex and frail
At this ripe age the past reminiscence gives us joy
We forget the rest with this treasure making us happy and gay.
Some Friends have gone
Many are forgotten
All have changed in their complexion
Ravages of life have made our bondage forgotten.
The present pain during our tooth extraction
Remind us similar situation with friends’ joke and jubilation.
Reflection of bald head in a mirror
Remind us our shaven heads and friends;’ humour
Then I cried for this and now I cry
But the difference is Not to cry now I try’.
Now limbs are weak and health is in hell
But when we friends meet our spirits swell.
When I am at other’s mercy now I need my friends indeed
To live for the rest of life, my friends indeed are my need.