"Thank You, Friend"

Even on my loneliest days, she still lingers.

Like a whisper calling me home.

She felt like home.

With a firm grasp she lifted me from the gloom and showed me light.

With a voice that could calm a storm.

She was peace before I knew the meaning of the word.

A slice of paradise.

And she walked with power and grace in her wake.

Her head in the clouds, yet firmly on her shoulders.

She was wit and clarity.

And sophisticated too: she made finesse look like an art form.

She was frightening and awe-inspiring.

"Could I mean the same?" I used to wonder.

I never asked.

–

Wonder turned to doubt, doubt to anxiety, and anxiety to desperation.

Drowning in uncertainty, I panicked and I lunged, moving passionately and without thought.

Too much, too soon.

We wilted, slowly.

And when the last petals fell, I had lost my friend.

So I ask now:

Did I bring you light?Did I make your heart sing? Did I give you butterflies? Did I make you feel alive?

That's what you did for me, and I never thanked you.

So thank you.

- m.w.