Friend

Here we are, silly again. Five years
of being apart erased in one laugh.
One understanding look and the devils
are pitchforked.

You probably wanted to show me
just how different you've become.
You may have quit the drugs, gained
some weight, settled in
with an older man, but you can't
fool me. You're still the same
friend I love and cherish.
The one who taught me that life
is just a witches brew, an emulsion,
an experiment without a known outcome.

You used to reach people with your Tarot
cards, sing Leather acapella, eat bean burritos
for breakfast. I could get lost
in your ideas of how we're all made of plastic
or maybe just dipped in it.
Did you think my silence
was a mothers judgment, that I
thought you were crazy? If so, you were wrong.
I sat still so I could hear you,
soak in your dreams, try to hold
onto your level of consciousness
many ladder rungs above my own.

Did I ever tell you that you amaze me?
That I wish I could know like you do?
That your ocean mind flowed into my stream?
I always carried you with me
even when my current rippled
in a different direction.

Yes, our waters have merged
again, and maybe we're dormant
in someone's shit-filled toilet,
about to be flushed. But somehow
that's a Creamsicle on a summer's eve
when I'm with you.

by E. M. Soos