Together, Forever

                                                     

               

A prize winning poem by my daughter Ashwathi Venugopal written during her school days at Abu Dhabi Indian School


My never failing friends are they,
With whom I converse day by day
Friends, who are very well - known around,
friends, whom you can never even dream about

They are always with me in the mornings,
they are always with me at night
You can find them with me in the twilight hours
when the weather is neither too dull nor too bright

They accompany me to school everyday,
they welcome me when I get back
And whenever I feel ill or depressed
they are always there for a reassuring pat

They share such a lot of secrets with me
They are my closest source of information
And we confide in each other so much that,
together we can save the nation!

I trust them from the depths of my heart
and I know that we will never depart
Deep in my heart is a special place for them
a place which is more valuable than any gem

My friends do not give me a chance to feel bored
They are what I call my hobby
And believe me, friends like these
are better than any Tom, Dick or Harry

My friends have a cure for all diseases
and unlike doctors, they can be quite fun
I consider them to be the best chefs on earth
their recipes are one in a zillion

Whenever I need help with my schoolwork
my friends do not laugh at me like some nerds
Trignometry, algebra, whatever may be the problem
They conjure up answers like magical wizards

My friends are very concerned about the depth of any knowledge
they always ponder about how much I know
they try to talk to me as  much as they can
to see that in the best way, I develop and grow

My friends have a very unique and special feature
and that is, that they will never ever die
Hold on, do not mistake them to be some extra terrestrial creature
but believe me, this is not a lie

You might be waiting with bated breath
to know who these special friends of mine are
well, why don't you take a very wild guess
hey, you're guessing cannot be that far

Well, for those of you out there who still not have guessed
please, don't threaten me with those killing looks
Alright, I will give you the answer and here it is
the very obvious answer , and that is books

Yes, it is right that my very best friends
are none other than books which I deeply treasure
And I know that even when I am gone
They will always be there for me together, forever.