Oh dear Adriana
neither you sound corny
nor the cornier is your voice
you shower me with silver linings
helped me with my choice
I enjoyed my isolation
set myself free
and the very moment
I hugged a tree
I hugged the stars shining over the sky
I hugged my image reflecting in the mirror
I loved myself
in spite of every error
Oh Adriana
childlike is our nature
but we have transformed
into futile beings
how can we find passion glimmering
and profound love
in everything we are doing?
Oh Adriana
you speak like a wise woman
but you are still
a curious and wondrous girl
I wish your thoughts would heighten
neither would any monument
be that much taller
What would I speak more?
I am a silent bird
glancing at the river from the shore
pain resides at my heart’s core
when I remember my past
I get lost
here I find peace no more
Oh Adriana
you write to me
I feel good
I don’t see you smiling
but your words do change my mood
our world may be too dense
but I feel like
we are from the same wood
Oh Adriana
we fight over race
religion, caste
don’t know when will these prejudices last?
Trees may be different
but every leaf will wither away
time doesn’t care
it travels so fast
the world is a beautiful place
but why is it woven in complexities
that seem so vast?
Oh dear Adriana
I am not bound by philosophies
you and I
we are all bound by time
I know we have distances
geographical distances
but we are together
like a non-composed rhyme
This is the poem I wrote for my pen friend Adriana from Mexico. I considered her my sister, although we always called each other friends. I wrote this poem on 24th March 2015 and sent it to her by email.
I honestly don’t remember how I met Adriana. We might have met through a Yahoo Messenger chat room or Hotmail, where you could randomly search for an ID and start talking to strangers. Somehow, among all those random people on the internet, we found each other and kept talking.
Adriana was in college at the time and I was a teenager in college too. We used to talk about our cultures, colleges, families, and whatever was happening in our lives. We were young, living in two completely different parts of the world, but somehow we became close.
Looking back at the poem now, I think it represents that simple connection we had despite the distance between us. It was about friendship, growing up, understanding ourselves, our cultures and the world around us. There is also a lot of innocence in it. We were just two teenagers who happened to meet somewhere on the old internet and, for a while, became an important part of each other’s lives.
Adriana and I haven’t been in touch for a very long time. We’re still just one email away, but somehow, I don’t feel like reaching out anymore. I’m not as open as I used to be. This poem reminds me of that younger, more innocent version of myself, and I think, in some ways, I’ve managed to hold on to that part of me.
