POEM: When You Depart From A True Friendship

The tell tale sign of the greatest friendship
Is how it feels when you leave its presence;
Sometimes it has the feel of a trained seal,
Barking for fish at all the right moments,
Vast energy is expended hiding
The creases and lines of hurtful living,
And things that cast unflattering shadows.

It requires such Herculean strength
That even the mourning doves strain to sing.
But when you depart from a true friendship,
There is the embrace of a healing grace
Which caresses us like a lull-a-bye;
You are better able to catch a breeze
And, despite laws of aerodynamics,
Gravity releases you, and you fly.

Only then can you sing joy’s harmony,
Which inflates tomorrow with tenderness,
And turns the most grounded hearts into sails,
Always knowing what is stacked against you,
We share each other’s song offered up as
The gentle voice of God as spirits joined.

M C Biegner

1/2005