tho’ we’d known each other a long time
even if we were not that close
in distance ages friendships
we had just been involved in the same scrapes
had recognised a kindred soul back a while
continued in late night phone calls we did now & then
him talking of the black dog hounding his heels
his new love starting to fold
& I played him some gil scott heron
there in the background to remind him
we are all new here
he could always turn around
sure there’d be pain in the doing of that
but we knew hell is hot & messy
we’d already lived through all of that
before
it is possible to do that
if you’re not that close up
to a friends situation