A Poem About the End of a Friendship I Never Wanted to See End: “Why Did We Meet?”

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Why Did We Meet?

Why did we meet
For it to end like this?
Why did we meet
At all?
I would have been fine
Not tasting bliss.
There couldn’t have
Been a wall
That kept our paths from meeting,
Kept our hearts from intervening,
Kept our souls from ever feeding
On the words that we were reading?

Words were our connection,
Words were how we stayed in touch,
Words were how we stayed united
In a world
Dividing us.
But the world did divide.
I opened my mouth wide
And was unpleasantly surprised
By the emptiness inside.
No more words to feed my soul,
No more happiness untold,
No understanding what most don’t,
No going deep where others won’t.

Why did we meet
For things to end like this?
Why did we meet
Just for our friendship
To fizzle soon after it formed?
To leave me feeling forlorn?
We nourished the embers
Didn’t we?
Yes, we nourished them for months
But it wasn’t enough
And so they were snuffed
And now the embers are dust.

What kind of story
Ends like this?
Couldn’t the ending
Have been stalled?
To feed on despair
After tasting bliss,
Couldn’t there have
Been a wall
That kept my soul from striving
For the bond it wasn’t finding,
Kept our paths from intertwining
Until I just found myself climbing
For a rung that wasn’t there,
For a deep breath of the air
That I breathed when you were there
Until I breathed only despair?

Why did you leave?
Why did things end like this?
Why wasn’t the ending stalled?
Why did we meet
Just for our friendship
To come up against
A wall,
The wall I wish had been there
Before we ever met,
The wall I wish had dared
Impede our ability to connect?
Because when we connected
When our life paths intersected
I never wanted to let go.
I just wish you could have known
How I treasured what we shared
How I wished you were aware
That I felt so unprepared
When you no longer seemed to care.

Instead the wall showed up
To end what we began
To curtail our connection
Till the flames could not be fanned.
There’s nothing remaining now
Of the lovely bond we shared.
Well, memories maybe,
Memories of words
You wrote when you still cared.

Why did you leave?
Why did it end like this?
Why was there no wall?
If only I had never
Tasted bliss.
This is a warped ending,
That’s all.

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