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David Anthony

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I thought you were a friend

(In memory of M.J.M.)

I knew you well and thought you were a friend,
and yet you gave no sign you meant to go.
Is this the proper way for it to end?

The hardest thing for me to comprehend
was why you failed to say goodbye, although
I knew you well and thought you were a friend,

and never doubted once I could depend
on you. To my regret it was not so.
Is this the proper way  -  for it to end

so brusquely? I had always meant to spend
more time with you. It was a telling blow
from one I knew and thought of as a friend.

I would have stood beside you to defend
against the fear, though all I really know
is this: the proper way for it to end

is not the way the passing-bells pretend  -
they ring with falsehood, sonorous and slow.
There was no proper way for it to end
for you who left me, though you were a friend.        
       

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