teahouseofthedonkey

– for cardo he took his shoes & walked on down the road my friend is gone his ready smile no longer shining when i’d dash in to give him news or bring some sneakered visitor to find the easy comfort of a hand-made shoe. he’s gone and i can see him yet – oh, not the sad picture at the end but remembered in his prime the green bill folded into a tiny boot and that sly smile. a shoe. and what a thing is that shoe? to be so much and mostly so ignored… like little boats that carry us on our way and us all unthinking about them and the comfort and protection they bring. our friends, if we are lucky, are like that: protecting us from discomforts and making us feel welcome – that’s what comfort is after all. and like the boot, our friends grow old – or if not old (alas!) then older – and shaped more closely to us and easy to be with. there’s a reason they call dear friends ‘old shoe’ and every one of my friends is a comfort and only makes me look better than my poor feet could ever do. now, like all the friends who’ve gone ahead i miss him, and here it’s as if i can still see him along the old familiar road, the shadowed hill and tall grass beside, his strong figure getting smaller in the big orange ball of sun and though the sadness tugs at me i’m glad for knowing him and for those shoes that always fit just like a gentle lover’s hand. ~ Hakim © 2007 Hakim: All Rights Reserved