I Have No Friends, And Want None Poem by John Yaws

I have no friends, and need none-
Is what I one time said.
I've since then acquired several,
Now all of them are dead.
For years I was a loner
In life I walked alone
In every situation-
I faced it own on my own.
But then as I grew older-
I found to my surprise
I found an inner longing
To know the other guys.
The men whom I had worked with
Through several troubled years
I grew to know their families
Frustrations, and their fears.
I learned to know their weakness
Their strength and character
I'd sometimes tell them my dreams
And then they'd tell me theirs.
But, oh, the painful wakening
Which stabbed me to the heart
When friends of mine passed over
Forever we did part.
And no one knows the heartache
Which oft I felt inside
Nor tears which I have hidden
In my room, when I have cried;
Reverting to past wisdom
It's really like I said,
"I have no friends, and want none".
The ones I loved are dead.