On Friendship

 

~ Friendship ~

Friendship is a sheltering tree. ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge

         "Friendship is," Coleridge said, "a sheltering tree." Is that how you see it?  Do other metaphors come to mind?  When you say a person, a book, a tree, or a place is a friend, what do you mean?   What is the give and take of friendship?  

         I've a million questions to make this prompt resonate after years of writing about friends.  Friendships vary, and change over time. And I've learned that the loss of a close friend brings their preciousness into sharper focus.  

          For this prompt, one of your choices is to clarify by example--narrate a moment spent with a particular friend.

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 Old Friends

BY FREYA MANFRED

Old friends are a steady spring rain,

or late summer sunshine edging into fall,

or frosted leaves along a snowy path—

a voice for all seasons saying, I know you.

The older I grow, the more I fear I'll lose my old friends,

as if too many years have scrolled by

since the day we sprang forth, seeking each other.

 

Old friend, I knew you before we met.

I saw you at the window of my soul—

I heard you in the steady millstone of my heart

grinding grain for our daily bread.

You are sedimentary, rock-solid cousin earth,

where I stand firmly, astonished by your grace and truth.

And gratitude comes to me and says:

 

"Tell me anything and I will listen.

Ask me anything, and I will answer you."

Poem copyright ©2018 by Freya Manfred, "Old Friends," from Loon In Late November Water, (Red Dragonfly Press, 2018). 

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How I Go Into the Woods

by Mary Oliver

Ordinarily I go to the woods alone, with not a single friend, for they are all smilers and talkers and therefore unsuitable. I don’t really want to be witnessed talking to the catbirds or hugging the old black oak tree. I have my ways of praying, as you no doubt have yours. Besides, when I am alone I can become invisible. I can sit on the top of a dune as motionless as an uprise of weeds, until the foxes run by unconcerned. I can hear the almost unhearable sound of the roses singing. If you have ever gone to the woods with me, I must love you very much.

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To All My Friends

May Yang (by HAUNTIE)

That I could be this human at this time
breathing, looking, seeing, smelling

That I could be this moment at this time
resting, calmly moving, feeling

That I could be this excellence at this time
sudden, changed, peaceful, & woke

To all my friends who have been with me in weakness
when water falls rush down my two sides

To all my friends who have felt me in anguish
when this earthen back breaks between the crack of two blades

To all my friends who have held me in rage
when fire tears through swallows behind tight grins

I know you
I see you 
I hear you

Although the world is silent around you

I know you
I see you 
I hear you

From To Whitey & the Cracker Jack (Anhinga Press, 2017). Copyright © 2017 by May Yang.

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Please link one poem that is your response to the material of this prompt.  After you link your poem, please visit others.

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