Friendship
by Lucien Stryk
(published in Selected Poems, 1976, The Swallow Press)
He writes again. Since his divorce
a fist has never left his chest.
He needs my words, and so I fill
a sheet--what joy it gives
to utter words to eyes that plead
from paper. I place the softest
on his cheek, his brow, a special one
upon his mouth. Sigh across
the page that he still has a friend.
Now off to do its loving work,
my scroll of bandages and kisses,
my dried and flattened heart.
Lucien Stryk was a translator and a poet, a professor at universities in the United States and Japan, and a WWII vet.
I love this poem for its simplicity and its sweetness, both being things that can go horribly wrong in lesser writers. Words become kisses, a sigh symbolizes friendship, and the letter to a friend is healing and uplifting, although it demands quite a bit from the speaker.
Our society puts so much emphasis on romantic/sexual relationships, we sometimes forget how necessary our friendships are. This poem is a tender reminder that friendships are as important, and the caring words we send to friends can be quite powerful.
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