~~~ The Everlasting Smile ~~~ Poem by Aswathi Nair K

She greeted everyone with a beaming smile -
the smile of joy, the smile of affection -
that could transform the gloomiest gesture
into an aura of joy.
She was a friend, a teacher, a companion.
She mesmerized everyone with her words -
the golden beads of love, knowledge and thoughts.
Assiduous and genial - that’s her in two words.
She was committed to make
young minds, bright minds.
Her aim was noble; her actions reliable.
But alas there was a becalm….

It so happened that she
who was the patron of history
was steered through the hallway of life and death.
“Never give up “, she used to say
when we had enough of
the battles with our text-books.
And that’s what she did………
She fought against the troops
of death and held on……….
As history says, “beware of the ides of March”,
She left us all to be near God,
to guide us, from His kingdom in the sky.
Not that we loved her less
but God loved her more.
She smiles at us everyday
as the brightest star in the cool night sky.
She is now far far away
but yet very close to our hearts.

The void her untimely departure has created
can never be filled again.
But we have to move on
‘cause that’s what she wanted us to do.
Even when in her aeon of sleep,
she had that smile – that everlasting smile –
the smile of hope, the smile of consolation.