An Inquiry Into Friendship Poem by Mark Heathcote

The warm reciprocation of a smile
Is all it takes to bridge something, worthwhile?
So why then is it so many people frown
As if they've now, shared their own, eiderdown.

I do not know. Friendship is a handshake
With oneself an acceptance of a backache
One must carry like a turtle the world around:
Refusal implies; this is a battleground.

That you, yourself are entrenched in a war
That has no allies. Your hearts a matador
Red flag waving at an unruly bloodthirsty bull
You imagine your Chi's a carpet of lamb's wool.