We were 4, I think,
You were such a nuisance, winning hearts with a wink.
Always annoying everyone;
You walked in like a teacher's favourite, oh-so-obedient.
Walking out, you sported a silly smile, messed hair and ruined uniform;
You never 'behaved'!
They attempted to discipline you time and again,
Your vivacious presence knew no refrain.
So free, so assured, so blissfully infectious, so easy to befriend;
Not knowing this was to end.
We were, 8ish I think
You lost something precious in a blink.
Your eyes that day, full of nothingness, were such a bother;
Making me helplessly wished I had something to offer.
You had to leave, with eyes so empty,
Don't remember if one showed sympathy or empathy.
‘Cause you felt so new; suddenly so old, so matured, so detached, so wise;
Did you truly lose something or found something nice?
You left.
Not knowing this was to end, too.
At 27 I wonder,
If you still wear that silly smile.
Or has the society's burden ceased the child inside?
Do you still chase those butterflies and frogs alike.
Or bury your head in a MacBook ignoring the ticking time?
Do you clean shave and dress for the occasion.
Or simply let your mood craft your own fashion?
Do you still colour your mouth with unhealthy cheap roadside gola.
Or have you learnt to behave and dine without indulging in some trivial hoopla?
Listen to the whisper…
You are a BLESSED child of the Universe
(I hope you know that.
Let me remind you anyway.)
You are a BLESSED child of the Universe.
Embrace the beginnings with love and joy
Knowing they will end.
Kiss the endings a happy and cherished good bye
Knowing they will end.
Fill your being with this whisper
Be so full that ‘nothingness’ will no longer bother.
-Shivani (in Love)
