To cruelly mock your friend
 Without mercy
 To achieve only a deepening of forgiveness
 To take him from behind
 When he is least expecting it
 And to return his smile
 When he turns round

 To confront your friend
 In the early morn
 With the mother
 Of all hangovers
 And laugh together

 To open the curtains of self-pity
 Invite him in without embarrassment
 And then go forth
 To wallow willingly in his

 To gently mock the shallowness of others
 Without condemnation
 But rather with the tender love
 That comes through
 The mutual mental masturbation
 Of casual gossip which
 In its turn
 Deepens the special spirit
 Of Friendship


 To ridicule false dignity and
 To fart
 To love literature and
 Discuss art
 To know that whatever you say
 You will always be part
 Of the dance
 Between friends

 To know that he also
 Has staggered through the ruins
 Of his could-have-beens
 Has faltered at the door
 Of Hope
 Has loved people
 For no other reason
 Than the need to love
 Has stumbled through the rubble
 Of the house of Love
 But to know that he
 Will take your hand
 And guide you through
 The earthquake
 In your soul

 To talk wistfully
 Of other possible past lives
 Of what might have been
 But without sadness
 Rather with the joy
 Of sharing licentious regret

 To hate him for the worst parts in you
 Which he reflects
 To love him for the lost parts in you
 Which he connects

 To wake cursing at the dawn but
 To find your bitterness refreshed
 By the thought that he too
 Is getting dressed
 Pouring scorn at the mirror
 And then milk on cornflakes

 To lay at his door an offering
 Through which the giving is a pittance
 The sharing priceless
 For your friend’s thought does not count
 The cost
 It embraces a whole which is
 Indivisible

 To love another in heart and mind
 But to keep your friend in spirit
 And to know
 That he can never be replaced
 To grieve at his leaving
 But to rejoice at his living
 In your heart

 To know that one day
 Even when all our days are done
 He will return
 Only then will we be wise enough
 To dance together
 In the twilight
 Or the dawn
 Without regret

 To wait with him for your
 Twin hearts’ melody
 To sing in harmony
 To the beat of the World’s pulse
 

 To ask him a question
 To which the answer
 Does not matter
 Only the look upon his face
 That reflects your doubt
 About the things that do

 To hear a song together
 And not discuss it later
 Only know that far below
 Beneath words
 Your roots have been disturbed

 To sleep between your loved one
 And him
 Knowing that his lust knows
 No limit
 And to know that
 His is as yours
 Without jealousy
 But with mirth

 To throw your arm
 Over him
 In the fitfulness
 Of dreams
 And to know that
 He won’t notice
 Or if he does that
 Forgiveness comes easy
 As the leaf
 Falls from the tree
 

 But one thing I would
 Say to you:
 Never betray your friend
 For in betraying him
 You betray your innermost spirit
 And which of us would be
 A traitor to life?

To write him down
 Your thoughts in verse
 For want of better
 Or of worse
 To, like a banana less its skin,
 Show him all that lies within
 To know the truth
 For what it’s worth
 Of all that rests between you
 And the Heavens
 And the Earth
 

 To return from holiday and know
 That back to work you have to go
 Mundanity rears her ugly head
 She makes you want to stay in bed
 With the one you love and love to squeeze
 Aaah! Visions of a life of ease!
 But beckoning from an alien door
 “Come on, my friend, there’s something more!”
 Someone’s busting, needing you
 Your friend is lonely, begging you
 To embrace him with your solitude
 Confront him naked in the nude
 And tell him now of things undone
 Of nipples burning in the sun
 Of feelings felt and music’s sound
 Of lovers lost and strangers found
 And empathy

 To nod, perchance to wink
 At half-formed plans
 Never to be realised
 But always to be relished

 I beg you to remember this
 The under-aged will soon be old
 But you my friend are cherished!