Absent Friend

Absent Friend They dusted me down after twenty years. Come to my birthday, have a few beers. We missed you so much my dear friend. Sorry about the invites we failed to send. I was a best mate, sometimes a big sap. Your finest cue, the liver and bacon rap. Giggling about nothing entering a camp. Stuck behind a wheelchair climbing a ramp. The bloke on the gate thought I was mad. Laughing insanely while him Jack the lad. Great times mate, obviously not enough. Left on the side-lines as push came to shove. You two, still remain, deep in my heart. I am no different, though an old fart. I still laugh daily and this keeps me sane. But I’ll still feel love. Still feel pain. So, an invite at last, what’s my address. Can’t tell you, you’ll just have to guess. If you’d made a call from May until now. You’d know everything a friend would allow. Have a good time, you recount all our jokes. About a guy you knew, among other folks. I’ll sit here quiet and no embarrassing scene. Look back twenty years, what might have been? David Cox 01/02/23