Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Poem for today:

"Friend?"

We started out as friends, but time revealed true colors. I mistakenly saw you as a comrade, only to learn your dagger was aimed for my back.  I should have known when you told me about your father not allowing blacks in your house.  Yet I try to view you with a different lens – not stained by parent’s ignorance.   But as I said before, true colors eventually show.  In that notebook you shared with the other “friend”, talking about me in cruel ways.  Although I recall you tried to reflect most of the blame on her.

But you were no friend of mine.  Despite your efforts to stay friendly, I never really trusted you and kept you at arm’s length. Then came the time you tried to play matchmaker between me and another friend of yours.  “He’s a mutt like you”.  Wait - did you really say that?  Now, at 37, I would have cursed you out and ask God for forgiveness later.  But I was young and I let it slide – but not without placing that exchange in my mental file cabinet. 

Almost twenty years have passed in a blink of an eye.  There had been a few times I wondered where you were.  Perhaps you’re living the good life in a different city, state or country – or paying for deeds done in the dark.  I probably will never know, but it doesn’t matter. I let the past lay where it is – sleeping in dark shadows, undisturbed.   Perhaps I should thank you for lesson.  I now read between the lines of what people do or say – maybe that’s why I don’t easily fall for politicians or have many close friends.  

true friends are so rare
lost in the mist of fake ones
sun reveals their masks


16 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. What an honest and raw story. How could there be friends like that, I think learning about hypocrisy is the true story. Yet I sincerely hope it's never replaced by suspicions that make you miss an opportunity for friendship...

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    1. Unfortunately there are people like that but I learned not to let those type of people have power of you. Thanks for reading.

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  3. Some 'friend'. I find it very hard to understand people who behave that way, and do find it difficult to have compassion for them, their upbringing, that has brought them to this.
    I'm sorry you had to experience this, and learn this lesson. Like Bjorn, I hope it hasn't made you mistrust too much, and miss out on the good.
    Thank you for sharing this.

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    1. No, I do try not to be distrustful of people (unless they are a politician lol). Thanks for reading

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  4. How horrible to be called a mutt. The way you wrote this made me share your anger and hurt. Grrr.

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  5. Eventually true colors and characters reveal themselves ~ We just need to be more discerning rather than trusting ~ A good lesson to remember ~

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  6. True friends grow among the weeds. Do not pluck the weeds, for true friends continue to grow, and you will surely know who they are, Arcadia!

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  7. Wow.. trUly it took me decades
    to 'achieve it'.. but iN ways oF
    bEcoming my own best
    friend.. i can be a friend
    to anyone.. even if they
    are the devil incarnate..
    it seems..
    sure.. and
    i've got some
    proof oF that too..
    but truly Real friEnds
    are Golden.. and very
    very rare.. as they will
    Love the same
    with no
    exceptions..
    my friEnd.. noW
    and in that way Now
    no one loses a friend
    as they are the friend
    first and last.. mY FriEnd aGaiN..
    and honestly without really going
    to heLL.. you kNow.. the earTh one
    as dEvil too.. i don't thInk i could
    ever Love Unconditionally like
    thAT iN fearless ways as tHeRe
    are some things that only
    A real DEvil in HeLL
    can uNderStanD aS
    thE price oF liGht
    can trUly
    bE DArk..
    for deePest WeLLiGht..:)

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  8. Sorry.. couldn't bypass
    the opportunity for another 'short'
    story.. my 2nd cousin.. a much
    older elder than my wife and i
    strangely referred to her as mutt
    and seriously.. my wife is one of those
    women who would look good even in hell..
    and yes.. she stiLL did when i was tHere..
    so we just ignored it as
    eccentricity from him
    as he believed in UFO's
    and stuff like that too..
    then.. later to
    find out he
    was actually
    comparing her
    to the Goddess Mut
    in Egyptian mythology
    for her unique beauty of
    the ages..
    funny how
    an explanation
    can change the
    liGht oF all from dARk...:)

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    1. Yes it can. Though I'm sure this person was not referring to the Egyptian goddess.

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  9. I agree with you....true friendship is such a rare gift....not just given, but also earned by those who we discern as safe to hold so close. Thanks for joining in for the prompt, Arcadia :-)

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