Around the corner...

Palak was a close friend…Suddenly I got a call where a common friend of ours told me that Palak got murdered…one of the greatest shocks of my life…thoughts went flashing back with the moments spent with him…we were in school for 14 years…pretty long time…happy moments, sad moments, small fights, birthday parties, Unit Tests in the school when Palak always cheated from my notebook….used to call me up before each exam to check out whether I was thoroughly prepared or not…school picnics…his affairs…I knew about all his girlfriends…his terrific smile…It was more of a Laughter than Smile…Palak always used to call me a month before my actual birthday….this time too he did that…and that was the last time I talked to him…I guess not everything can be put in words…

It was Palak’s birthday on 23rd ….this poem is dedicated to Palak…my school friend…

"Around the corner I have a friend,
In this great city that has no end.

Yet days go by and weeks pass on,
And before I know a year is gone.

And never I see my friend’s face,
For life is a swift and terrible race.

He knows I like him just as well,
As in the days I rang his bell.

And he rings mine we were younger then,
And now we are a busy tired men.

Tired with playing a foolish game,
Tired with trying to make a name.

Tomorrow, I say, I will call on Jim,
Just to say I am thinking of him.

But tomorrow comes n’ tomorrow goes,
And distance between us grows n’ grows.

Around the corner yet miles away,
And here is a telegram sir, Jim died today.

And this is what we deserve in the end,
Around the corner a vanished friend…"