Mates and Friends.
Mates I’ve got a plenty – true friends I’ve but a few
and they’ve been friends for many years now they are older too.
My best friend is a schoolmate and we go back fifty years
we’ve shared a lot of laughter but we’ve shed a lot of tears.
Two mates who once were partners and I thought my closest friends
proved not to be, true colours showed. They’re not here at the end.
All of the best years wasted on those dreams that came to nought
No good in being bitter, just move on once you’ve got out.
My family are good mates and there’s none that I love more
We rarely have an argument and each one is there for
the others if they’re needed and it’s been that way for years
but as family members pass on, one more good friend disappears.
I’ve had neighbours who were good mates, at least until you leave,
then the friendship seems to dwindle. That’s a fact that I perceive.
And I’d workmates who were good mates – side by side we’d worked for years
but retirement makes a difference. All is not as it appears.
So my cyber mates I value and they’re all across the world
and at least the interests that we share bring me riches untold.
Some I’ve met in person and I hope that I’ll meet more,
for friends are always welcome should they be passing my door.
But in truth I’ve always found in life that my very best mate
has always been four legged. They sit waiting at the gate.
They ask for nothing, expect less and so much love they share
so now number eleven and twelve are two for whom I care.
And when their time is up, if I outlive them which I might
another pair of unloved souls will take their place at night.
Deep in my heart, alongside ten, I’ll hold this precious pair.
but now my best mates, loved to bits, are right beside my chair.
Maureen Clifford ©
Lord Byron said, ‘nobody need want a friend who can get a dog.’
