It has been too long in the coming,
and it comes
when it’s not needed
like it once was.
Coming earlier,
now could be a lot different
to what it actually is.
How funny
that your true beauty
revealed itself over time,
and I laugh
(you probably don’t)
that now you are beautiful enough,
as my friend,
to warrant a poem.
A true friend
really does last the test of time,
and your light,
sometimes bright
sometimes not,
has never been a supernova
but it’s outlasted those that were.
I can’t apologise
for not making a more intimate us,
because you may have burnt out
like the others,
and become a memory.
Instead you’re my star
that will always be there
in one way or another.
A certain tension
was always expressed in youthful sex,
but also in adult friendship.
We’re middle aged now
and admitting a certain tension still exists
is a warm fuzzy feeling
that is ultimately,
inconsequential.
But nice all the same.
And I now deliver
your long awaited poem
to tell you that time
has finally woken me
to the real reason why I love you;
that in all your unreliability,
your heart
has proven itself to be more reliable
than everyone else’s.
Burn on brightly,
but never too bright to burn out.