Yesterday I had brunch with a new friend. We connected over my writing and her knowledge and skill was appreciated as I finished my novel. Her view of my writing revealed understandings of embedded themes she saw, and her insights brought a heft to the book that I had not seen before. I had been more involved in the people and places that I had created.
We chatted and chatted catching up on so many things and when it was time to part, my car did not show. So we stood in the sun, me wilting from the heat and aches unattended, my head swimming a bit, and she lent me an arm, as we navigated Broadway crowds, traffic and calling for a ride to replace my no-show car service.
We vented and bellyached a bit about my circumstance, but there was always the offered arm. Just the occasional, “if they had called and said they would be late, we could have lingered over our meal and be chatting “, time flying, laughing or lamenting the times in which we live.
So when I was finally at home , reflections on friendship filled my mind. There are times when I have felt, my friends who have passed on are with me still. Their thoughts, images of them seared in my mind. And their losses are with me long after they went away.
Interestingly, my melancholy is always mingled with peace of mind.There is a contentment that comes from having had good friends. So here were some thoughts from last year that came to me as one friend left.
Fast Friends
Fast friends, float away like the leaves on a fall tree,
Lined, and windblown, you lie at our feet,
Bearing the reds, and the golds, the passion of a life fully lived and wizened,
A testament to the true treasures, to us, you have given.
And we gather them up, lest they are blown away,
Keeping them alive in our minds till spring’s bright sun’s rays.
So all that is left now, are our sad good byes,
Our love expressed in gentle soft sighs.
Wishing for more than the whispers those loving sounds say,
For in our hearts, our love is loud, and lingering, and for all of our days.
Now new friends , those people who enter our lives and we find that they are immediate touchstones for those feelings and states of mind that are our essences. This had not happened in a while, focussed as I was on the loss of my best friend and love. Let this thought steep. And maybe ideas of new friends will waft up, fill the air, and speak to my senses.