Friends Stay with Us Always

The other day, while waiting for a friend in a coffee shop, I pulled out a notebook and opened it at random to a poem I haven't thought of in some time. Later, as I spoke to my friend, I realized that the poem was exactly appropriate for the topic on her mind. Poems are like that... they like to answer questions before we know to ask them. This is the poem that spoke to my friend. Perhaps it will speak to you as well.

In Memory of Lost Friends

They are alive in me –
Everyone I’ve known –
Perhaps not as themselves
Through changes to my thoughts.
But alive in me they stay
Even those who’ve passed
It is a truth I welcome
For the comfort that it offers.
And since they are alive,
Are thriving in my thoughts,
I hope to find the joy in them
That stokes the joy in me.
And when someone new comes
To homestead in my heart
I’ll seek the best in them
For they will ever after live in me.
Copyright © 2009 Mary Beth Watt. All rights reserved.