Reflections #11 - Ode to a Friend Who is Ill

A little background to this. I wrote this when I got a little angry after not receiving a reply to a text I had sent to a good friend for some time. It was only a little latter (just over a day and some) that she replied that she had injured herself. But she was still her own cheerful self, and this sent me down memory lane to our first meeting and some first impressions. 

A missive I sent a day before,

Turned empty and forlorn in return.

A gentle breeze echoed silently

For my gaze began to burn!

And as my anger subsided ,

I gave the forgotten a call

And found the reason, so simple

Why conversation had to stall.

An ache burrows into my pale heart,

Like an apple devoured by a worm.

For the unsteady call that greets me

Guides me into a harrowing storm!

You sound brave, and are so truly!

The bandages trap only body not soul.

But it pains to see you suffer,

For I remember when life was whole.

I remember one great summer day,

The first meet in a humble abode.

Of well read and well fed devotees,

Who sought to traverse a less dull road.

That was happiness, a sense of joy,

A reflection of true godly paradise.

Found a true belonging in a dark forest,

Hidden from ignorant and blinded eyes.

Three souls gathered together I spied

A brother from the same land,

And another free in thought and speech

Last came the flourish of a curious hand.

She chastised us for speaking

In our own ‘foreign’ tongue.

An apology later, her smile lit up,

And the dark mood away did burn.

Intrigued, words and the day passed,

And night entered like a seasoned thief!

Went our separate ways like so many do

But acceptance was empty to such fearsome grief.

We met again in a crowd decided

And traversed a universe of its own,

Red walls, coffee stalls,

It was a day whose death I still mourn.

Even as these thoughts turn away

And I hear the rumblings of thunder,

I curse myself of my ignorance,

As I seek to undo this grievous blunder.

How we are so easy to doubt!

And think ill and poison each other!

One call later, my lips were trembling,

Hoping I wasn’t being too much a bother.

And instead I hear that cheerful voice,

Telling me to laugh and be gay!

True sickness comes from loss of friends;

Not a silly finger scratched for a day.

And what truly guides a ship?

Out of this stormy and unsettling stay?

Your smile, hidden yet clear in your words.

Blowing those dreary winds away.