Buddies Best

A scorching romance, a run-away marriage
It was truly a baptism by fire

A gossamer fabric of memories
Stitched together by time,
A thirty year journey
Which was often a pantomime.

A scorching romance, a run-away marriage
It was truly a baptism by fire,
We stumbled along tethered by
The melody of love, the symphony of desire.

Jobs, mama-papahood and a zillion chores
We seemed to be clutching at ephemeral moments,
Our togetherness was soon falling prey
To a clutter of bonsai events.

We pledged to renew our connect

The stress and strain of living
Began to take its toll,
We were now responding
Each day to a tough roll call.

Egos reared their nasty heads
Love started seeking space,
Romance which had been a bookmark
Was now merely a fading preface.

We were losing each other
In the chaos called living,
We pledged to renew our connect
Which had always kept us going.

We both dumped our I’s
In our recycle bin,
Armed with We and Us
We clawed back to a state of win-win.

Of course we had our fights and hurled
Often at each other some grievance,
But we never ever unleashed
The brutal violence of silence.

The kids have flown the nest
We are back in the honeymoon phase,
From the frenzied, frenetic life
We have set a leisurely pace.

The kids have flown the nest
We are back in the honeymoon phase

With more time for each other
There is more to seek and lot to share,
To make each day count,
And treat every moment, as a treasure rare.

To live with our faults
To ‘love’ our many flaws,
To look beyond the wrinkles
The heartache and the loss.

Nothing else seems to matter
As long as we have each other,
On every blank canvas
We can splash a new colour.

When we move towards oblivion
We shall leave behind a treasure
Of love, laughter and connect
In, I hope, equal measure.

Finally in the photo-shopped portraits
On the walls when we rest,
Everyone who looks at us
Will only see two ‘buddies-best’.

About the Author

Ramendra Kumar ( 117 Posts)

Ramendra Kumar (Ramen) is a children’s writer with 38 books to his name. He has won 34 awards in the competition for writers of children’s literature organised by Children’s Book Trust (CBT), over the years. He also dabbles in satire, poetry, fiction and travelogues. His writings have been translated into 15 Indian and 14 foreign languages and have also found a place in text books, as well as national and international anthologies. A much sought after inspirational speaker and story teller, Ramen has been invited to participate in several conferences and festivals. These include the IBBY Congress of Children’s Writers in Denmark (2008) & Greece (2018) and Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (2019), apart from many literary events across the country. In the Congress held in Greece he was the only writer from India to be invited to chair two sessions. An Engineer and an MBA, Ramen is former General Manager & Chief of Communications, SAIL, Rourkela Steel Plant. He is the father of two children who are bonsai celebrities in their own right. While Ankita is a youth icon and a travel blogger with an Instagram following of 76K, Aniket creates cool Apps and designs covers for his Dad's books. His website is www.ramendra.in
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