Friendship

Life was a barren desert

Till along came the Friend

That Oasis of cooling waters

Where every thirst could end

The One who listened

Shared all that was felt

In gratitude to whom

The very being knelt 

When a friend leaves

And sails upon the Tide

There is an emptiness

Where only memories reside

Thoughts that haunt 

Spectres of shared dreams 

Reverberating in hollowness

Once the source of streams

Such is the mirage of life 

That imagined future dear

Which fades into oblivion

As far as it is near 

Vikaas Nafde  May 2017