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When we were young, I had a friend.
Hadn't seen him in a while.
He popped into my mind one day.
I saw his tender, loving smile.
I used to wonder how he was.
What he was going to be.
Where did he go? He left our town.
Who'd he love? He once loved me.
Did I love him? No, not really.
Except, well, like a brother.
It wasn't enough for him, and so
I fell in love with another.
He went away; I missed his smile.
We'd had fun! I soon forgot.
I married then, I raised my kids
And never gave him much thought.
My dad died, and that day he came
to see us; the same old friend.
His smile was soft, his eyes were full,
He said, "Some things never end."
"It's just the same," he said to me,
"We're like we were, same old pair."
"You're a bit grayer now," I said.
He grinned and said, "To be fair,
"You won't fit into that red dress!"
I laughed, and he looked at me,
then said, "You know that I love you."
I said, "You mean much to me."
"Not like I want," he shook his head.
"Don't you know, hon, can't you guess?
I can't forget you. I've loved you
Since you wore that bright red dress."
Soon after that, he had to leave.
We said goodbye at the door.
And pressing events filled my mind
As others had done before.
It really did surprise me, then,
When I kept seeing his smile
In my memory, and I'd try
To ignore it all the while.
But I couldn't forget because
His face cropped up now and then.
A minor key, a far-off laugh
Brought him back in my thoughts again.
"What's wrong with me?" I asked myself,
"Why can't I leave him behind?
I felt him near me and wondered why
He kept coming into mind.
And then I heard one day that while
He'd seemed so close all that year
He had been dead for all that time.
My God! He had seemed so near!
I did not cry but sat there and
Remembered us together.
And in another day or two,
Began to wonder whether
If when I had felt him so near,
That he'd come to tell me why
He had died, and that he wanted
To say one last, sweet goodbye.
Where do we go when we die? Ah.
If only we really knew.
To Heaven, you say? But then how
Can we visit, if that's true?
Do our spirits sometimes stay close
Continuing earthly love,
When our minds should be on God and
Heavenly beings above?
I don't know what fulfills God's plan;
It is far beyond my ken.
I only know that for a year
I felt near to my old friend.
