My Departed Friend Poem by Ravi Upadhye

I wrote this as a tribute to our stay in the mountains-we will forever miss the purity of nature and magnificent rains

On a rainy day
Floated a cloud and he nestled in the window of my humble home
It had travelled a long way
Hoping to find an old friend and a warm welcome
He said he lived on the footsteps of giagiantic Himalayan mountain
Not so long ago, he knew a romantic man and his nature loving woman
They loved his outburst as rainwater
And also its childlike pranks with gay abandon
They would wait for him the whole year long
Only to welcome him with open arms
at the end of a scorching summer
and merciless heat without a song


More than the man, the children and the woman
played in his downpour
And responded to his roar with great fervour
When it stopped raining
They would listen to the pitter patter melody of the rain drops
And in the quiet of the night
Listen to the flowing stream winding its way
Just a few steps across

Oh just how they loved each other's company
He remebered with cherish and smile
They had lived happily together
And bathed in bliss divine, pure and sublime

And then on a day when sky was laden heavy
He wanted to dance right at their doorsteps
With the same eagerness and mischief made easy
By years of friendship and warm caress

He was in tears to see none of them there
The yard wore a look of desolation and emptiness
He looked with desperation everywhere
Only to realize the futility and vanity of a harsh reality in wildernes

He cried and cried the whole night
Never had he poured his heart with such sorrow
It flooded the yard, the stream and the town
And only then he realized, they had left him for their better tomorrow

Floating over the hills listlessly over the years
Raining every season without joy or fun but just tears
Going through the motions of performing Nature's duty
He still longed for the bygone days and the loving company

Wary of leading a life without happiness or purpose
Searching for some kind and loving souls
He decided to move to land unknown
And floated listlessly crossing many unknown shores

Bathed in golden rays of a rising sun
Through my window, he was looking for long lost friends,
His journey long ago had begun
And now almost ending in obvious sorrow and tiredness

Seeing me, with hair grey and silver
He paused for a second said its you I am sure
And seeing her with her glasses and signs of age but all grace
He recognized her
His joy knew no bounds for his search was not in vain and there would be no more distress

He was back to his own self, majestic and tall
Looking for the children to play the pranks
But then suddenly realizing
They too would have flown to seek their horizons
And now on would be a lonely existence

He dwelled for a while
But did not stay long
For he had met his friends
But the solitary journey must go on

At a distance I saw him floating away
Listlessly, aimlessly,
I too was sad but got over as there was no other way
And, a few days later
I heard of a cloud burst
The town had been swept away