Poetry: What For?

Why do we have friends?
Over the years
The numbers rise up and up
New faces in each
New experience
Fading away
As their relevance fails.

I didn't want to be lonely
Friends
I needed guidance
Friends
We were partnered together on a project
Friends
We saw each other everywhere
Friends
You were funny and I laughed
Friends
Our parents knew each other
Friends
We had so many classes together
Friends
We hated the same people
Friends
I thought you would be interesting to harass
Friends
I had a crush on you
Friends

But
We stopped needing each other
Goodbye
I could no longer turn to you for help
Goodbye
Our project concluded
Goodbye
Our lives diverged
Goodbye
Our humors no longer aligned
Goodbye
Our parental past connection no longer mattered
Goodbye
Schedules changed and the present concluded
Goodbye
We changed our line of thinking
Goodbye
I thought wrong about what we'd be like
Goodbye
You weren't safe to flirt with
Goodbye

Friends have a special place in our hearts
And the past is always sweet
No matter how often it actually was bitter.

Friends help shape our values
Either by testing our resistance
Or dragging us along with them.

They are close to our hearts
We need them
More than we know
Until they're gone.

Our family, our siblings
Our first friends
But never the last
Teaching us how to be one.

Our middle school friends
Shaping our ideals
Helping us to discover our identities
Teaching us how to love
(For if we can't love them,
How would we ever learn?)

Our adult friends
Formed by proximity
Hoping that this time
It'll be the last time
You say goodbye

And then
Lastly
Most importantly
Them
Your best friend
The only one
You know you can't give up
So you make them yours
To love until death.

It's all so beautiful
It's all so wonderful
And you never would have gotten here
Without them all
During your uncertainties
There they were
During your triumphs
They cheered you on.

And when you needed love,
They were safe.
They were your outlet.

You didn't need to hide.
You didn't need boundaries.
You didn't need to live in fear.
You didn't need to worry about 'being too close'.
You didn't need to worry about being mistaken.
You didn't need to question it.
You were close.
Closer than close.
It didn't mean you were in love
But it did mean that you did love.

So, what for?
What reason have you to not?
How could you not?

The heart is the center
And in the heart of all things
Is love.

Don't ever close it.
Don't ever give in to the hurt of this broken world.
The world needs your charity.
So give it
Freely
No reservation
No harm can come
From loving too much.

What for?
For the greatest of all things
Love.