The Window Outside 

You’re like a dog who wants to be patted,

Every time the teacher or the master gets past you;

Crisp uniform, polished shoes and hair all matted,

A few words of praise – and there’s hardly anything you won’t do.

Doesn’t matter what you do as long as there’s flatter,

Class monitor – pedestal – no.1 – no.2 won’t do;

Doesn’t matter the air outside the window,

Victory inside’s still served on a platter!

Outside the window, the competition widens,

You think hard, work harder and get more guidance;

And yet, everyone seems to be better at something or the other,

And then slowly you realise that you have to win some and lose other.

You can’t win all races – you say to yourselves,

You get out of a few contests – even though you could have won;

Another’s victory doesn’t bother you – in fact the opposite,

‘Cause those are the races which you haven’t decided to run.

No longer you do you toil for all the flattering mouths – unlike the days of yore;

Praise still matters but where it comes from now matters even more!