You've got a friend

How blessed my days have been, said by a friend,
rang like Sunday bells in my ears.
How can I, who have been so blessed,
walk through life in fear?

I will, perhaps, when I am old,
be funny looking and acting.
The inside of me will still be
thinking and loving and caring.

And maybe no one will remember me
in my youth and beauty and bravery.
They may have all gone on to other lives
or on to the next ahead of me.

But I rememember the blessings in my days.

I know that life changes, I see that
it challenged me and drove me down
at times I cursed it, but I lived through it,
with the love given to me.

I remember love and laughter,
pranks and pratfalls,
cheers and catcalls, pets and kids,
cars and bikes, driven faster than the law.

I remember the touch of caring hands.

The love that holding hands sends
racing through your body,
and lips and smiles and hugs
and other loving touches.

I remember bounty and beauty,
I remember joy and play,
I remember friends and parties,
all the funerals and weddings
that drew us together again.

I remember the scent of fresh cut hay,
of sun and flowers
and the greens,
oh, the greens of August,
before they give way to the color of flame
and fall away.

I remember the first rain of spring
warm enough to run naked in.
The lake as the water cooled our heat
in a sudden "Brrrr" of relief.
The breeze that smelled of honey suckle
and lilacs in the warmth of the evening.

I have been so blessed, my children,
my friends, my family and the ones
I have with me now are loving of me
and I love them and I will love them then.

I walked my days, through broken loves,
fires, terrors and ignorance.
Illness, too,touched my life - let me forget them
And know I am alive!
I have loved and am loved and will love.

Tell me you feel sorry for me now.