Pain is my friend,
for it gifts me words and poems
and gives the lie to joy’s deceitful stories.

Pain is my friend,
for it reminds me I was born with feet
to walk in the realms of reality.

Pain is my friend,
for it clips my wings
before I learn to fly
to dreamy skies that never existed.

Pain is my friend,
for it educates me about absolute strength,
that it is a state of my mind,
that I am of fragile mind and weak body,
that I get strong circumstantially,
to survive situations that want to break me.

Pain is my friend,
for it blurs the lines of success-failure
and trains me to view the world relatively,
for everybody is hurt in their own way,
and must bear pain in loneliness.

Pain is my friend,
for it shows me that I am but a human,
grey and weary,
not a hero,
not a villain,
not a nobody.

Pain is my friend,
for it leaves me with scars and wounds and a mirror,
and forces me to look past the illusion of perfection.

Pain is my friend,
for it promises me that the worst is over,
that it’s time to heal,
that happiness is not beyond me.

And happiness,
in it’s fleeting moments,
takes me on a jolly ride,
and drops me at the doorsteps
of pain,

my teacher,
my companion,
my critic,

my friend.

~ Varun Dani