i do not wish to hurt you, friend.

i wish that i could just love you and

that you would love me, honestly, without holding back.

but underneath the surface there is a past,

a hurt that we have pushed aside

but without forgiveness it is not erased.

there it sits, gleaning our life as it’s own.

it grows with the grumblings of pain and

angry words,

which do nothing but erode the friendship

we once had and guarded so close.

what happened to us that we have become

so jaded and unwilling to trust?

i know enough to know

that there is no ever going back,

and that the path ahead is forward facing

from here on out,

but sometimes i begin to think

like a child, throwing copper pennies

into the pond, and wishing we could go

back to those sweeter days before such

bitterness had time to hatch.