Avoiding a Friend

AVOIDING A FRIEND 

I headed out of home last night and started heading west. 

It was something I decided to do to avoid an unwanted guest. 

Our friendship had grown tiresome, he had expected too much of me. 

So I slipped out before he could arrive, sneaking out real quietly. 

I walked and walked and it got cold, and I’d forgotten my sweater. 

But I convinced myself to not go back, this was all for the better. 

I started to get hungry and I’d realized I’d brought no money. 

I was starting to get blisters on my feet, my nose was getting runny. 

It doesn’t matter, I thought, cause anything’s better than facing him. 

But I couldn’t find a place to stay, it seemed the prognosis was dim. 

Then finally I saw a place up ahead with all of its lights on. 

I’ll go in, I thought, and get a bit warm and wait there until dawn. 

I walked inside and to my chagrin who do you think I’d see. 

It was the very friend I tried to avoid apparently waiting for me. 

“I brought you a coat, here have a tissue, let me get you a bite to eat.” 

He smiled, he asked no questions, he was just happy we could meet. 

I was amazed that he was there; how’d he know where I was going? 

It seems that he’d have been wherever I went, as if he were all knowing. 

“I’d been wating here for hours, it took you a while to finally arrive. 

But not of that really matters, I’m just happy your alive.” 

Alive, he said, and it hit me, that I’d been dead to him. 

He’d been there for me all along, and I had just not let him in. 

I realized that it was me who had allowed our friendship to wilt. 

I was jealous, I was angry and I’d been feeling lots of guilt. 

But when I realized that he didn’t care about all my limitations, 

I relaxed and simply enjoyed spending time with him in conversation. 

That night, my friend, he saved my life, and now I’m overjoyed. 

He let me know that a true friend is not something to avoid.