Friends

 An unrecoverable time and place
Returns to mind. I can see your face,
A series of events beyond the reach
Of memory’s ability to bend
Reality, in comfort of the ego.
Knowing the hurt would never really mend,
Lacking the grace to turn my head away,
Standing and staring, helpless, at the pain –
And then I left, in shame. I could not say
A thing that might have helped your sorrow go.

1984