count the many gifts
always friendship
tears and heartache
but we know it is time to break

but these labels need not stick
they are given by the narrow minded
for whom,
intelligence is a sludge too thick

because,
it has been such a long time
since i took up residence
in the rooms of your being

it was a conversation
that has arrived
some thirty years too late
better late than never…

right now,
they talk of bad weather
yet somehow,
i have to hold it together