Who’s My True Friend?

Why are they mean?

What did I do?

Why don’t I feel seen?

I’m surprised, cause this is new.

Are they jealous of me?

That I’m the best in my own unique ways?

Or because I found the magic key

That they’d been digging since the pharaoh days?

Once we were the best of friends,

Until suddenly the tables turned upside down;

Leaving me unable to comprehend,

Thinking if it was me who let them down.

I try to hold them on to me,

Wishing it would become the way ’twas before;

But dear, they’re running away from me,

So I give up, realising it’s not a score.

I let them go and I refind peace;

The insecurity I had previously

Miraculously turns into ease;

And I turn inside me lovingly.

I sit with myself,

With my hands wrapped around me,

And willingly reassure myself,

That no one’s my best friend than me.

Sometimes that’s how I learn-

I collect my floor-fallen pieces,

Pick myself up and around I turn,

And arduously try to think of happiness and roses.

Sometimes that’s how my healing begins,

Through some learning and some unlearning;

And it’s true that I always get second chances,

So truly, I’ll always try and keep going.

- Jaanvi Veluguleti

Perennial Poetry