The Wish Fish (short poem)

I was sitting by the blue sea,

When a golden fish came close to me.

It said, “Sneha, you look sad.

I desire to make you glad!”

I bent over, looked at it in awe,

Not believing what I saw.

It was talking to me as a friend,

At a time when day was to end.

But I held my feelings back.

With a glance at horizon in lilac,

Waved a goodbye to the fish,

In an attempt to hide my anguish.

By the time I reached my home,

The pain in my heart was gone.

Little, I wondered how it worked,

Looked at a mirror, then shrugged.

With my toughest chores I got busy,

Unaware of what made it easy!

My smile was back, I rejoiced,

“I had my own roof o’er my head!”

Two years later, on my birthday,

Among party, dance, laugh and play,

A fish in a bowl caught my eye,

A gift from a friend named Nitai.

The fish, golden, became a companion,

Reminded of someone from the horizon.

One evening, I caught it staring at me,

Was it asking, “Sneha, are you happy?”