Now for my drifted-away friend E. We went to the same schools. My family was close with her mother, who was a teacher with many creative outlets. E used to carpool to school with my family, and she’d always make me look bad by being ready to leave before I got out of bed. My dad really appreciated her, because she got all three of his daughters to hurry and get to school on time.

E had way more chores at home than I did, took on way more extracurricular activities (mostly dance classes), and had a much more practical skill set than I did (things like sewing and cooking). She played the trumpet in our high school band and was even willing to take on the role of Lumiere when I directed my friends in a play of “Beauty and the Beast”. I actually got so inspired by her example that I demanded my parents give me more chores. I wanted to be just as mature and responsible as her.

E was a wonderful friend, and it’s easier to remember that now. She basically found new friends after our first year in high school and didn’t talk to me anymore. After L (see Poem Portal #10), I think I had a different perspective on drifting friends and wrote E’s song with more finality: she’s over and this is just how it is. There is a hopeful note, but it’s mostly for the distant future.

Chorus: You were someone I knew,

Someone who knew me,

Yet when I see you now, it seems

You’re the stranger who was a friend

In the memory of a dream.

Verse: How did the mist between us come

To thicken into clouds?

Despite our flaws we had become

Friends who were allowed.

I guess now that’s no longer true;

Go your way and I’ll go mine.

Whether it helps us both or only you,

I hope it will work out this time.

Chorus:

Verse: When I look back on the fun that’s free

Of the strange chains which now bind,

Where resentment and uncertainty

Spent less time in our minds,

I know that I could start again

To be your friend through dark and doubt;

Without you will never be the same,

That’s what friendship’s all about.

Chorus:

Verse: Can’t say I know just what went wrong,

What triggered a change of heart;

I thought we’d been friends too long

For our lives to grow apart.

Estrangement filtered out with time,

Someday we’ll meet again as friends;

Whatever harm there was exchanged,

It won’t even matter then.