-- STRANGERS AS FRIENDS --

John Herlihy

I wonder where they all are, still on my favorites list;

Strangers who became friends, such momentary bliss.

Veronica with her hair lip and Adeline with her lisp;

Funny Antoine with his stutter, I think you get my gist.

Each one of us displays our own little eccentricities;

Just as each one of us has our own unique destinies.

Strange indeed how people can fill our hearts with joy;

Each one with a handicap never to be used as a ploy.

The only ploy ever used was their sense of good will;

I feel their presence, hear their voices, they echo still.

That day would inevitably come; that day did come,

Arriving with all the insistence of a marching drum.

They then went away just as suddenly as they came;

They came briefly into my life, but I forgot their name.

For once, a name not important, the soul I remember;

They filled my empty hours with feelings most tender.

Still on my favorite list, for them always a place to be;

They were there in my darkest hours, to set me free.

I said I wondered where they all are, and now I know;

A sweet memory in soft wind with perfume to bestow.

 - - - - - -

(c) John Herlihy 22 March 2019