SAYING GOODBYE TO A FRIEND

 

 

SAYING GOODBYE TO A FRIEND

 

I’m saying goodbye to my best friend:

Pain.

 

When we first met I didn’t like you at all.

You played rough.

But you did play my game.

We were like Gilgamesh and Enkidu

taking on the Scorpion God,

going in search of the waters of immortality.

The adventures we had!

And we stuck up for each other in a fight.

 

You rewrote the map of my body.

You kept me in touch with my soul.

 

Freezing nights in the desert when nobody would call

and the stars seemed to have turned their backs.

In that black despair

you were always there.

I hated you but I needed you.

I loved you.

 

And maybe that’s the problem,

dear friend.

I wanted you so much

that I invented reasons

to stay in touch.

 

I picked fights just so you

would come to my rescue.

 

Look, I feel really bad about this,

but it’s not about you,

it’s about me. I’m the one who’s changed.

 

I don’t belong in the desert any more.

See the walls of this city?

It’s my new home.

 

You won’t fit in.

You are their nemesis.

Black star in the firmament

I have to let you go

because the gates are opening,

and they’re opening for me.

I must go. I can hear them

singing a new and joyous song.

That song is mine.

 

josephine