I remember your laugh
And your long, rock-star hair
That I used to run my fingers through
And wrap the loops of your curls
Around my fingers with gentle care
It was like a multi-sensory high
Just being with you
Your hands carressed my 20 year old skin
You made me promises I didn’t think you could keep
I left because I thought I could find
Someone who was better than perfect
At 20 I wasn’t so good at figuring
These kinds of things
And now it has been 25 years
And I have met men, loved them,
Married them, dated them,
Been destroyed by them…
And gathered myself in pieces
Up from the dust where they left me
Without ever looking back…
But in two decades of loving and losing
Being a friend and hoping for better
I have never found anyone
That was the kind of best friend you were
Unconditionally accepting me
No matter what I shared
Or anyone that
Lit the passion’s fire quite so high
I have never replaced you
I don’t know why I thought I could
Twenty or so years later
I wish I had not left you
But if I had stayed I never would have
Known just what I had
Time and age can teach lessons
That we can never go back
And fix
But you will always be in my heart
And that has to be enough
GentleKindness 