A Poem About Wanting to Reach Out to a Friend Who Left: “Writing You Another Letter”

Julia Sudnitskaya/Shutterstock.com

Writing You Another Letter

Sometimes I think about
Writing you
Another letter
One more
That’s it.
I’d keep it short
And to the point,
Include nothing
Irrelevant.

What would I say
In this letter to you?
What would be its theme?
Just questions I’d like to ask you
Things I’ve wondered
Since you took your leave.

I wonder if you’ve
Forgotten me
Forgotten the words we shared
I wonder if you
Ever think about
Our friendship
To which none compared.

At least, that’s how I viewed it
What we had was so unique
So uncommon in this shallow world
So full, so lively, so deep.
Maybe it was too much to ask the world
To allow us to have
What we had
Maybe all we were allowed
Were a few highs
And after that
Nothing, silence, emptiness
Despair of the most acute kind
The kind that lets you know
An essential piece
Has been ripped from inside.

But I would say none of this
In my letter
If I wrote to you
I’d keep things light and simple
Say nothing
That might be too much for you.

Of course I’d ask you how you’ve been
And say I hope that you’ve been well
And I’d wonder if there’s anything new
Anything you’d be willing to tell.

But most of all, my friend
I’d ask you
If it really has to be
The end of our friendship
Or is there a way we could
Possibly
Be friends from a distance
Who don’t talk much
Friends who go weeks without writing
But then one letter
Out of the blue
Can pull us both
Out of hiding.

I wish you didn’t
Feel the need
To give as much as you do
I wish you understood
That’s not at all
What I’m asking of you.
Just knowing our connection
Was there and in place
Was more than enough for me
But it wasn’t enough for you, it seems
And that’s why
This has to be
The end of our friendship
The end of our bond
The end of the letters you sent
I wish it didn’t
Hurt so much
And the pain I could
Circumvent.

I know that I said
If I write you this letter
I’d include nothing irrelevant
But I’m sure at some point
I’d dissolve into tears
With the plain letter still unsent
And at that point
Staring at the screen
I’d pour my heart out to you
And if I sent the message then
You’d leave it unresponded to.

So, I’d have to erase
The emotion-filled parts
If I sent this note
Like I said
I’d include only relevant stuff
Like a wish
To keep our friendship
Afloat.

And then I wonder if maybe
You’ll write a letter
Just one more
To say you apologize
For the previous note
That tore out my heart
And left a void in me,
Giant-sized.

No, I don’t think that’s
Likely to happen
So, I’ll keep thinking about
Writing to you
And if you somehow agreed
To the new arrangement
Of course I’d write you something new.
I would write as many letters
As you wanted to get
But I would need a promise from you
A promise that you’ll
Take it easy with yours
And respond only when you have leisure to.
If that meant I only heard from you
Every few months
That would be fine.
Even once a year
Would be better than knowing
That this is really goodbye.

But I don’t know if any of this
Is likely to happen
So, I’ll just think about
Writing to you.
But I wonder if you’ve
Already forgotten me
Or if maybe
You’re just about to.
And if that’s true
This letter would be mis-timed
Maybe I should let you forget
And maybe it’s time
To forget you, too
But for that
We’d have to never have met.

Copyright © 2025