A Friend Poem by Lynn W. Petty

If one could find a friend in one's lifetime,
A confidant, with whom one could express
One's heart; to ease one from the artic clime,
Those frigid blasts of mental loneliness;
To walk the shaded stream banks of the mind;
To tramp the verdurous hills of spacious thought;
To soar within the cosmos, unconfined,
Of theory, concept, reason, truth, all sought
Through interchange of speech between two friends.
How vacuous is life without someone,
Someone who understands, who comprehends,
What constitutes a friendship once begun.
When first the waking heart becomes aware
It feels the void within; it feels the chill
Of solitude, the depth of one's despair
One single, lonely hour brings until
A kindred spirit has been found with whom
One shares, in retrospect, the eras past
Gone by. Remembering the times of gloom;
The times of youth we thought would always last.
Remembering with someone we hold dear,
With whom we can identify and sip
The sherry of old age before the cheer
Of hearth; the warmth of good companionship.
It gives a purpose for one's life to share
In joyous moments, sorrow, grief, should they
Occur. To laugh at nonsense; weep if there
Should be regrets. To have a silent day.
Not speak one word, perhaps, but know that when
Together "Meaning" speaks with louder cause.
To love a friend for what he is, and then,
To love again for what you are because
Of him. Enjoying comfort, feeling safe
That one may say what comes to mind without
The fear of ridicule; without the chafe
That chiding brings; without the falling out
Of faithful friends. There is no template made
To manufacture friends. They are a gift
Who weave with golden threads a rich brocade
Upon this burlap we call life. We drift
Upon the current of our consciousness,
Like ghost ships on a calm and windless sea.
We search each haunted port for happiness;
Condemned to sail this futile odyssey,
Until we understand where friendship lies.
In we, not they, one's friendship lives or dies.