Tag: Friends

Nothing Beats Friends

Summer goes, and summer evenings
Sometimes wander aimlessly;
Takes us back to years and places,
Timeless, easy, young, and free –

So much that we lose for loving,
All the obstacles time sends —
    But there is nothing, nothing
    That beats friends.

Growing up and on together,
Still in moments motion made,
Necks that know all kinds of weather,
Favorite shirts that tear and fade –

So much that we gain for giving,
Sorrow shared, its own amends —
    For there is nothing, nothing
    That beats friends.

  Call upon the years to blossom,
  Playing date and playing ‘possum,
  Hopeful scholars, bashful truants,
  Brides-to-be and honor students

Eyes that shine with tears of gladness,
In the moments in-between;
Shoulders used in shades of sadness,
Love that breaks the quarantine

Losing, gaining, laughing, grieving,
Here, through all the fads and trends —
    Yes, there is nothing, nothing
    That beats friends —

    No, there is nothing, nothing
    That beats friends.

Diaries of Another Summer (5)

His girlfriend had a sister,
She’d join us at the pool;
That might have been pool water,
Or might have been his drool

I watched them every weekend,
And saw the slide begin;
It’s bad to mix up summertime,
Hot sisters, and
Sloe gin

A Dream of You and Stone Steps

With every step another stone I
Breathed you into being –
The dream from too much rectitude I
Long had yearned for fleeing

It wasn’t for amazing nights or
Breathless flights of passion –
But just the hope to see you well a
Wish long out of fashion

And woken from this sight again I
Sit down on the floor –
To place my hands behind my head a
Sleepless troubadour

I dream of you I think because
I’ve watched you struggle bravely –
Your journey strange and frightening and
I would see you safely

Onto the other side of all that
Might be left for scaling –
For quiet streams persistence can
At last be our unveiling

I never see you get there though I
Am too soon awaking –
It is my spirit and not dawn that
Far too soon is breaking

So I am not to know this thing this
Brook that you must ford –
But just to watch as in a dream and
Then to sit here floored

regrets, like the ocean

her regrets, like the ocean
in their immensity and constant turmoil
surrounded both of us –
far too real to be ignored

because i loved her,
i left her ocean undisturbed;
because i love her,
i offer only my
acceptance

we who live
live with imperfect knowledge;
we cannot know outcomes

there we sat,
surrounded by the ocean;
here i sit now,
surrounded by my own thoughts

my friend:
i do love you.
and love,
like stars that hover
high above any ocean,
does not change the water,
but give us –
if only for a time –
something else
to look at

I’m Really Glad You’re Happy

I’m really glad you’re happy
I’ve worried about you
I know we’re very different
The things we’ve each been through

For trouble’s lined your pathway
With much that was not good;
And decisions that you’ve made
I never really understood

But I have always loved you
That’s unlikely to cease;
I’m really glad you’re happy
And finally found
Some peace

I saw three tulips in a row…

I saw three tulips in a row
As if in mimicry of rows of stone;
They stood a flimsy guard upon the way
That I have walked today,
And walked alone —

So recently, just shaking hands,
Before you left to come out here to sleep;
And now these silent guards keep watch
Of one lone new dug swatch
Where you’ve your keep —

Life tears at us, and rips us, to
The core of what we’ve been and are;
And friends just float away like
Lost balloons
The spring is new mown in the grass,
And what was near now seems so far,
The clouds, they stack, for
Gathering monsoons

A glance: three tulips in a row,
Three brothers duty-borne and newly free:
So much that once seemed far is near,
Like history – or destiny –
And my despairing wish
You still
Were here

Awake, and Know

Awake, and know
That I still care;
Although things change
As they must do

Awake, and know
That I’m still there,
Though hard snow falls,
And sharp winds blow

For you and I
Must each our paths
Of life and family
Navigate

But sometimes, know
And maybe, smile,
That friends are friends,
And fate
Is fate