PoemsPoems on friendship
Poems for the friend who has seen you at your silliest. Send one on Friendship Day, on a birthday, or on an ordinary Tuesday when a memory turns up.
English
The Back Bench
We sat where teachers rarely looked, the last row, by the broken fan. You drew moustaches in my book, I ate your lunch. So it began. The bell has rung a thousand times in schools we never see. But somewhere there's a wooden bench still saving seats for you and me.
ShareYourGroupA Friend Is
A friend is tea at half past four, a knock you know upon the door, a "tell me" when you cannot speak, a "told you so" kept for next week. A friend is change for the bus fare, a borrowed pen, a saved-up chair, the one who laughs before the joke, and stays to listen when you choke.
ShareYourGroupLong Distance
You moved away. The map got wide. The group went quiet on the phone. We like each other's photographs and call it staying known. But send one line, a single word, the old bad joke about the bus, and ten years fold up like a chair. There we are. It's us.
ShareYourGroupTwo Cups
Two cups of tea, one plate of fries, a table by the door. We solve the country, then our lives, then order just one more. The waiter knows us. So does rain. The bill is always fought. Some friendships live in grand events. Ours lives where tea is brought.
ShareYourGroupThe Group Chat
Forty messages by eight, A meme, a plan, a fight. Somebody's baby learnt to walk, Somebody cannot sleep tonight. We live in seven different towns And one small glowing square. I mute it twice a week, it's true. I am glad that it is there.
ShareYourGroupNew Friend
You sat beside me, that was all, The day I knew no one. You shared your lunch and half your bench, And something had begun. I have forgotten what we ate And what the lesson was. I still remember being new, And not alone, because.
ShareYourGroup
हिन्दी
यारी
न कोई रस्म, न कोई वादा, फिर भी निभती जाती है। यारी वह अजीब दौलत है जो बाँटो तो बढ़ जाती है। कैंटीन की आधी चाय में, टिफ़िन की आधी रोटी में, हमने जो दोस्ती पाई थी वह नहीं मिलती कोठी में। बरसों बाद भी मिलो कभी, बात वहीं से चलती है। घड़ी भले ही बदल गई हो, यारी नहीं बदलती है।
ShareYourGroupपुराना दोस्त
आज पुरानी एल्बम खोली, तू हँसता हुआ मिला। वही बिखरे बाल, वही शरारत, वक़्त वहीं ठहरा मिला। फ़ोन उठाया, नंबर ढूँढा, घंटी जाती रही। तूने कहा: अबे, कहाँ था? और उम्र घटती रही।
ShareYourGroupपिछली बेंच
पिछली बेंच के हम दो राजा, आगे सारी दुनिया थी। कॉपी में तेरे कार्टून, जेब में मेरी गोलियाँ थीं। घंटी बजी, स्कूल छूटा, रस्ते अलग हो गए। पर उस बेंच पर नाम हमारे अब भी साथ खुदे हुए।
ShareYourGroupदोस्त की चिट्ठी
बरसों बाद तेरा संदेश आया, लगा कि कल की बात है। वही हँसी, वही शिकायत, वही पुरानी बात है। न तूने पूछा, कहाँ था मैं, न मैंने तुझसे पूछा। दोस्ती वहीं से चल पड़ी, जहाँ से हाथ था छूटा।
ShareYourGroup
ਪੰਜਾਬੀ
ਯਾਰੀ
ਯਾਰੀ ਨਾ ਤੋਲੀ ਜਾਂਦੀ, ਯਾਰੀ ਨਾ ਮੁੱਲ ਵਿਕਦੀ। ਔਖੇ ਵੇਲੇ ਨਾਲ ਖੜ੍ਹੇ ਜੋ, ਓਥੇ ਯਾਰੀ ਦਿਸਦੀ। ਇੱਕੋ ਥਾਲੀ ਰੋਟੀ ਖਾਧੀ, ਇੱਕੋ ਸਾਈਕਲ ਚੜ੍ਹੇ। ਵਰ੍ਹੇ ਬੀਤ ਗਏ, ਸ਼ਹਿਰ ਬਦਲ ਗਏ, ਯਾਰ ਓਥੇ ਦੇ ਓਥੇ ਖੜ੍ਹੇ।
ShareYourGroupਪੁਰਾਣੇ ਯਾਰ
ਸਾਲਾਂ ਮਗਰੋਂ ਮਿਲੇ ਤਾਂ ਲੱਗਿਆ ਕੱਲ੍ਹ ਦੀ ਹੀ ਤਾਂ ਗੱਲ ਹੈ। ਓਹੀ ਹਾਸੇ, ਓਹੀ ਠੱਠੇ, ਓਹੀ ਪੁਰਾਣਾ ਝੱਲ ਹੈ। ਨਾ ਗਿਲਾ ਕੋਈ, ਨਾ ਸ਼ਿਕਵਾ, ਬੱਸ ਜੱਫੀ ਘੁੱਟ ਕੇ ਪਾਈ। ਯਾਰੀ ਓਥੋਂ ਈ ਤੁਰ ਪਈ, ਜਿੱਥੇ ਸੀ ਛੱਡ ਕੇ ਆਈ।
ShareYourGroupਸਕੂਲ ਦੇ ਬੇਲੀ
ਅੱਧੀ ਛੁੱਟੀ ਵੇਲੇ ਰੋਟੀ ਵੰਡ ਕੇ ਖਾਂਦੇ ਸੀ। ਇੱਕੋ ਸਾਈਕਲ ਉੱਤੇ ਤਿੰਨ ਜਣੇ ਸਕੂਲੇ ਜਾਂਦੇ ਸੀ। ਕੋਈ ਕਨੇਡਾ, ਕੋਈ ਦਿੱਲੀ, ਕੋਈ ਪਿੰਡ ਈ ਰਹਿ ਗਿਆ। ਪਰ ਦਿਲ ਦਾ ਬੂਹਾ ਤਿੰਨਾਂ ਲਈ ਸਦਾ ਖੁੱਲ੍ਹਾ ਰਹਿ ਗਿਆ।
ShareYourGroup
Nothing matches. Try a shorter word, or choose All.
When to send a friendship poem
Friendship Day is on the first Sunday of August in India, and a poem is a good change from a forwarded picture. Birthdays, farewells and reunions are natural moments too. The best time, though, is for no reason: a poem that arrives on an ordinary afternoon says "I thought of you", which is the whole point of friendship.
Make it yours
Friendship lives in details that nobody else would understand, so add one. The name of the canteen. The teacher you both feared. The scooter that never started. The city one of you moved to. In "The Back Bench", change the bench to wherever the two of you actually sat. In "Long Distance", put in the real time difference. If you are sending the Hindi or Punjabi poem, use the name you call your friend, which is probably not the name on their certificates.
Ways to use these poems
- Handwritten on the first page of a slam book or a farewell diary.
- Read aloud at a friend's birthday or sangeet, with the last line changed to a private joke.
- As the caption of an old photograph of the two of you.
- In a group chat on the anniversary of the day the group was made.
What to avoid
Do not send a friendship poem to make up after a quarrel without also saying sorry in plain words. A poem can open the door, but the apology has to walk through it. And if a friend is going through something hard, choose a quiet poem such as "Two Cups" over a cheerful one.
Good to know
- Change one line to a memory only the two of you share. It becomes your poem.