When I slipped into the pitfalls of indiscretion,

                   And broke my ankle,

                     I picked them up.

When I lost my ways through the maze of ignorance,

           And my eyes blurred to see the truth,

                     I picked them up.

When waywardness took me as its comrade,

   And held me hostage to relentless failure,

                      I picked them up.

When turbulent youth drifted me away from equanimity’s shore,

         And let the sharks of restiveness eat me up,

                      I picked them up.

When all my schemes went wrong and fell apart,

And life was left littered with rotten shards of dreams,

                      I picked them up.

 I picked them up when for all my wrongs I paid the price,

I picked all my experiences up and as advice’s posy I gift you all,

These are not impositions to weigh you down, my children,

But to brace your wings of freedom to soar high to crown the summit of success,

 Withstanding with ease all the fiends bent to foil your flight.

……….Dr. Fathema Begum