Friends to the End
We’d walk to the corner together,
Eat M&M’s and wait for the bus.
I remember she’d always stick up for me
When Tad Smith would make fun of us.
We played for the Rascals together.
She knew how to clean up the bases.
She pitched. I was catcher. We had secret signals.
I’d laugh when she made silly faces.
We’d share a shake in the food court
When her mom drove us to the mall.
We’d pretend not to notice the boys when they passed;
By now Tad was not bad at all.
I was better with numbers,
We’d painstakingly work each equation.
She grabbed me and hugged me, then straightened my cap
When we lined up for our graduation.
So many memories of glad times;
So warm was the laughter and fun.
Where did the years go when we left that place?
How could our lives here be done?
We went to the judgment together,
Once more we were standing in line.
I had one more chance to look into the face
Of this wonderful old friend of mine.
It spoke of the bus stop, the ball field, the school;
Of math class, the mall, and the show.
In all of these times I never had told her
Of this one final place we would go.
Just one more day at the bus stop,
Or shopping and sharing a shake;
Just one more test for eleventh grade trig;
One more, that’s all it would take.
I’d be sure this time not to miss them;
Those everyday chances to show
The Christ of the cross, His hope for the lost,
This time I would tell her I know.
But there’s no going back. It’s all over.
A whispered “goodbye,” and it’s severed;
A friendship so strong, yet it ended so wrong.
It’s all over forever and ever.
Cindy Colley
