free-verse – Page 19

Old Friend (for Jace)

You make me smile so hard.
"I know!  I know!"
We commiserate
that our arms grew so long
we finally wear glasses
and we have given up
understanding teenagers.
But when we talk together
we are at once here in the
middle of life
and back at the beginning
where we started:
twenty and in no hurry
to crack open the books after dinner.

For J

I had a friend in college
you know the one:
smart, funny
handsome, kind
never breaking my heart
but never filling it, either

Thirty years on and half a world away
we talk of children, politics
spouses now and past
I exhale knowing that he, though dear
was not the one who got away

Knowing

You never know
my young son said

He wanted a sister
a brother
a puppy

I laughed
sometimes to myself
sometimes out loud

I was sure I knew 
what lay ahead

Now he lectures me on the possible

He was right before:
I do not know
cannot know
what good is coming