Friends and lovers
Are not distinct
One naturally bleeds
Into the other
Just like watercolors
Creating a hazy
Squinting image which
Requires its study
To understand meaning
Sometimes my friends
Become my lovers
For love like
Pastels blend and
Create a beautiful
Ghostly image like
A ship far
Out to sea
Or heavy woods
At the cusp
Of pastoral prairies
I love lovers
I cherish friends
Combined they make
Wonderfully beautiful art
And like a
Child awakening to
An overnight snowfall
The sight of
You makes me
Swoon with adventure
Sleds and snowballs
Mittens and cocoa
Of crackling fires
And smooth whiskey
While I watch
The fire’s fingers
Dance across cheekbones
And light up
The twinkling galaxies
In your eyes
You are my
Own late-night snowfall
Let us play
With gleeful abandon
Never give kindness
In the hope
Of its return
Give kindness simply
Because it’s the
Easiest and grandest
Thing that each
Of us can
Ever ever give
I awoke to
The memory of
Us two men
As children playing
In sandboxes and
Seesaws on swings
And slides in
Tents enjoying finger
Puppet adventures in
Front of flickering
Candles and eventually
Sleep at last
Dreaming of the
Days adventures and
Joy one day
My friend upon
Your return we
Will soar like
Eagles on high
Thermals gliding wing
To wing towards
The heavens us
I see life
In As’s and
Like’s the world
Pops for me
In technicolor in
Images like a
Map laid before
Me with savanna
And forest everywhere
What I spy
Is lush like
Handfuls of gemstones
Each one holds
It’s own secret
Like your whispers
Late at night
You next to
Me are my
Metaphor unlocking each
And every other
HARLAN DIDRICKSON 