Friendship

Fear not my friend, Let the path be scary and dark, You shine light on my ignorance, Let me lighten yours. ~RavS ## Quite old. Forgot to post it earlier :) ##

At one point you were the toast of my life, We were to live together, together we were to die. But as it happens, life took you away from life, It felt my arteries were getting sliced off by a knife. And then you moved on somewhere, Only sometimes I called your number. You had made new pals there, Me, You forgot to remember. But I can’t really blame you, You were scaling new highs. And I felt jealous and lonely, As I fought just so as to survive. ...

Dear friend, last night I got your text, Where you wrote how, “I’m one of ya best”. Well let me tell you first I appreciate that, You took sometime out to say what you said. What I didn’t like is that you took a year, To state something that should have been so obvious. You could have told me this when we last met, Or piggybacked it with your occasional “gn” messages. Or left it unsaid, and I would have understood, Because after all that’s what real friends do. ...

धोखे इस कदर दोस्ती में खाए मेरे दोस्त, दोस्त तो रह गए, पर दोस्ती न रही। ~रबी [ I got betrayed in friendship, to such an extent, my friend, We remained friends, but there wasn’t friendship anymore. ]

सुख चैन सब लूटा, घर-बार सब छूटा, यारा तेरी यारी बड़ी मेहेंगी पड़ी। पर सब गया तो गया, तेरी यारी तो रही, जीना पड़ा इसी के सारे अब अगर सारी ज़िन्दगी, तो भी मुझे अब कोई गर्ज़, कोई मलाल नहीं। ~रबी [ My happiness got destroyed, Everything in life, I lost, My friend, you friendship proved very costly. But let everything be gone, at least I have your friendship, Now if I have to live my whole life by only that, I won’t ever regret it, even for a minute. ] ...

दोस्ती फ़क़त इस हद तक निभानी है मुझे, मुझसे अच्छा दोस्त, तू किसी और को साबित ना कर सके। और अगर कर भी जाए तू ये गुस्ताखी, तेरे ‘सच’ पर किसी को यकीं ना हो सके। ~रबी [ I want to take my friendship only till that limit, A friend better than me, you won’t be able to prove. And if by chance, you try and do this sin, Nobody shall believe in your ’truth’. ] ...

तो क्या हुआ, जो तुम आज इतने बदल गए, तो क्या हुआ, जो तुम बहुत दूर निकल गए, मेरी यादों की सलाखें बहुत मजबूत है, परख़ लो, नामुमकिन है, जो तुम्हें यहाँ से ज़मानत मिल पाए। ~रबी [ So what, if you have changed a lot, So what, if you have gone so far, The bars of my memories are very strong, It’s impossible, that you can bail out from here. ] ...

एक रोज़ पीछे मुड़कर देखा, कोई दिखाई ना दिया, ना दोस्त, ना साथी, ना मित्र, ना सखा। फिर किसी ने धीरे से कंधे पर हाथ रख कहा, “भाई मंज़िल आगे है। अब चलें क्या?” ~रबी [ One day, I turned around and could see no one, No friend, no companion, no mate, no confidant. Then someone gently tapped over my shoulder, and said, “Bro, our destination is ahead. Shall we get going now?" ] ...

मेरे बस में होता तो तुझे इस लम्हे में कैद कर लेता, तू लाख मिनत्तें करता, पर तुझे ना जाने देता। मगर मालूम है मुझे, अब तू ‘वो’ नहीं रहा, कैद में तू ‘मेरा’ तो हो जाता, पर तुझे ‘अपना’ कैसे कहता? ~रबी [ If it were possible, I would have caged you in this moment, You would have pleaded a million times, I wouldn’t have let you be gone, But I know, that you are not the same anymore, In my confinement, you would have been my ‘mine’, but how could have I called you ‘own’? ] ...

अगर बेज़ार हो वहम मेरी दोस्ती पे तुम्हें, आँखों में झाँक मेरी सच्चाई परख लेना। अगर न आ सकूँ नज़रों के सामने मैं तुम्हारी, तुम गुफ़्तगू कर मेरी वफ़ाई परख लेना। अगर न सुन पाओ मेरी आवाज़ भी एक तलब पर तुम, फ़क़त तुम पर लिखी मेरी रुबाई परख लेना। ~रबी [ If you get angry and suspect my friendship, Look into my eyes and test my truthfulness. If I can’t come in front of your eyes for some reason, You listen to my voice and test my loyalty. ...