The Friends We Had Poem by Jim Yerman

I picked up my old high school yearbook from on the shelf where it has stood for many years and when I opened it I thought…it smelled like childhood.

Browsing through its pages I found, much to my delight, how my old f friends and even I looked good in black and white.

I found faces I remember…friends I use to know…
moments captured for eternity…a long, long time ago.

Names I still remember…Marilyn, Joe and John…
I remember so many wonderful moments spent together…
and how, in a moment…they were gone.

Gone…as we left to find our places in the world…
wondering what futures we might find…
excited at the possibilities…grateful for the friends we left behind.

I did not know back then…I was much too young to see how the people in this yearbook helped determine who I'd be.

I turned to a photo of me standing with my friends…smiling…seemingly without a care…and I realized I wouldn't be standing where I am today…if I hadn't been standing there.

Standing with my childhood friends…friends who helped me find my way…friends who helped transform the boy I was back then into the man I am today.

Yes, looking at old photos of a young me…and old friends I can still name…I wondered if anyone who picks up their old yearbook doesn't feel the same.

Doesn't smile as they look back on a different time…a different where and when…
and wonder who'd they be today…without the friends they had back then.