I Am No Longer A Child Poem by venkata lakshmi narasimharao

If you praise me too much
I will suspect you
If you criticize me constructively
I will respect you

I am no longer a child
To be pleased and appeased
My vanity and ego
Have almost been released

A criticizing friend is better
Than a flattering foe
A friend criticizes you in your presence
And praises in your absence

A foe pleases you to fool you
And make you forget your own view
s/he will mock you at your back
you will be deceived by his/her knack

I prefer the piercing arrows
To softening flower bouquets
The arrows may make wounds in my body
They will never touch my soul by anybody

Flattery is the fools’ food
It doesn’t do me any good
I am ready to enter the dangerous wood
I have an abundant faith in my LORD