Friendship

Friendship

When I first met my friend Bill we played
junior high football
he was bigger and tougher than most of the kids
while I was not tough and really quite small
he was born with a cleft pallet and a very harsh Dad
when he heard Billy speak he’d really get mad
for his voice was nasal and hard to understand
his dad would scream at him to speak like a man meanwhile I had my own problems blocking my way
my two front teeth were knocked out of my mouth one day I’d arrived at school and just walked through the door when I was shoved into the wall as they fell to the floor
I picked them up and ran home gasping with tears
when I met Bill I was still suffering from fear
healing the fracture had taken three years
we were two kids with self esteem that was low
but friendship was born and we stated to grow
we learned how to dance cool and date girls
slowly we learned how to deal with this world
as the years passed by we had our share of ups and downs still I always took comfort to know he was around
but I guess I learned better though I’ll never know
how Bill reached the point where he just had to go
and now that he’s gone I’ll remember til the end
what it meant to my life that Bill was my friend.