Your subtle entry encased in smallish chit-chat similar musical interests and a love of photography my chilled white wine next to your pink Cosmopolitan The infancy of a grave friendship Oh, the concerts we attended! The lush green park that day when we photographed the crooked wooden fence and the giant knot on the oak You were never ready when I picked you up You asked which shoes looked best the tall leather boots or the black strappy heels? No longer matronly Oh, the dance floors we graced! I still have those dancing shoes the ones tossed on your living room floor on lazy days by the karaoke machine I remember that conversation on the phone tracing the rough edges of a stone wall while you cried for the twentieth time All the times I talked you down from the edge of darkness All the times you did the same The divorce, the deaths, the foreclosures, job losses My hands acquainted with your belongings in boxes more than once Your car full of my office supplies transporting them when the business failed Oh, the parties we hosted! Your famous macaroni you made sure to include a vegetarian dish I made sure there were no nuts in my famous slaw You never ran out of wine Afternoon movies sitting in the back row Five times we strolled the beach You never liked yourself in a bathing suit My confidant Then the wine became sour the Cosmo tainted I winced when the phone rang I couldn't talk you down anymore You didn't like who I'd become all of a sudden Jealousy, competition, disgust miscommunication, anger, judgement control, betrayal These are the wicked that turned it toxic Senility came to our friendship and it exited with harsh words and sobbing The waiter gave me a look as I was making a scene The dying plant you gave me is green as spring its vines entrenched in the ground and crawling up the slats of the picked fence Your photographs are still in my frames But I cannot listen to Blondie anymore.
–Some friends are meant to stay and some are meant to fly away.
I believe we are here to connect with each other.
But some connections are better off severed.
We can mourn this loss but we can also learn from it.