To be your friend

To be your friend

Like a child finishing vegetables

Just for permission to play

 pushing aside the plate

Pleading wide-eyed and clasped hands

Mom gives the nod

Hurriedly, I rush out

And before the screen door shuts

I have made it to the end of the sidewalk

I race heavy footed to the playground

For I know you will be there

And it is always magical when we are together

To be your friend

You are in the distance waving

 Wearing the same smile as me

How wonderful the air smells

The sky never so blue

The sounds of other children like dying audio

We become outsiders to them and them to us

To be your friend

face to face

catching our breath

sharing greetings and laughs


To be your friend

And we shuffle our feet

meeting eye to eye

studying each other

In these moments

A swift uplifting whim


To be your friend

And so we play

Its enigmatic

 We smile longer

 We laugh harder

Even at each other

 It's glorious

To be your friend

We part for the street lights come on

dawlding home heavy hearted

To be your friend


 Sometimes succeeding such a label

 For its larger than the word

And nothing I can conclude


To be your friend

Means that we meet

we study

We play

We part

And get to do so again

To be your friend

Is a spirit all its own

An ongoing story

 

To be your friend

Is a gift from our Maker

And that's all I have to know

In absence