CHINGU

A Message to Readers: 'Chingu' means 'friend' in Korean. This poem is a dedication to all friends who showcase their love and care, not through big gestures that can be put on display for a crowd, but through little things that make our life better. It is for friends who are not necessarily by your side, physically, and who may not talk to you at all times, but are always present to help you when you need it. Friendship is a very subjective relationship, one that can be interpreted in many ways, and this piece appreciates the kind expressed wordlessly, but beautifully. 

(Photograph from Pexels)

Lightly wiping away raindrops on the window,
Tracing lazily the outline of a fairy tale heart,
I get called away, promises awaiting fulfilment,
To come back and find the shape complete.
 
With blunted pencils, I draw on sheets,
Yellowing at the corners, old and fatigued;
The morning after, I wake up to fresh supplies,
No name, just the scent of care and love.
 
Maneuvering through a crowd in an endless hall,
I stumble, my glasses clattering against worn tiles,
Desperately, I search, blinded by the rush, when
A warm hand places what I seek into mine.

Haunted by nightmares, real and unreal,
I wander about, my eyes insomnia red,
Refusing to attend to my famished self,
I reach my locker, and find folded, a note.
 
‘Eat, for fighting demons require strength,
Believe, for the Devil runs away from faith.’
Juice and a fruit salad, from a faceless man,
Yet, calling him a stranger, I cannot accept.