sara Etgen-Baker Poet Free verse

Notes About The Poem

Susan Alexander, 1970

Sara Etgen, 1970

images from poetess' personal scrapbook

THE LONG ARC OF TIME

Susan and I met in the fall of ’67,  
two girls in English class  
who recognized each other  
before we even spoke~  
the way some people do  
when they share a tilt toward  
uniqueness,  
toward books that smell like rain,  
toward movies that linger,  
toward clothes that felt like  
small rebellions.  

Friendship was instant,  
effortless,  
as though we had been  
walking toward each other  
for years.  

Then life,  
with its wide and wandering hands,  
pulled us apart.  
Graduation scattered us  
into different futures~  
hers across an ocean,  
mine across a state.  
She raised a family in Germany;  
I raised stories in Texas.  
Decades passed  
without our names touching.  

But fate~  
or whatever quiet force  
keeps track of lost connections~  
found us again  
through the strange glow  
of Facebook.  
A click,  
a message,  
a memory rekindled,  
and suddenly the years  
were not a wall  
but a bridge.  

Now we write the old-fashioned way,  
ink on paper,  
postmarks traveling  
from Germany to Texas  
like small migrating birds.  
Her handwriting arrives  
with its familiar tilt,  
and I feel sixteen again~  
the girl in English class  
who knew instantly  
that Susan was someone  
near and dear,  
someone who would matter  
even if time tried  
to convince us otherwise.  

Distance is only geography.  
Friendship, once found,  
remains luminous~  
a long arc of time  
that bends us gently  
back to each other.

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