Friends, When You Know You Got A Good One
Friends
“Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It’s not something you learn in school. But if you haven’t learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven’t learned anything.”
Muhammad Ali
Like him or not “The “Greatest” in the quote above knew a thing or two about the human condition. Friends come and go in your life just like ocean waves that meet the shore, but your best friends have somehow learned to stick around. Lasting friendship is really a simple affair as far as I am concerned, a friend is someone with whom you drop your guard and all the emotional fences that you have built to protect yourself and then and only then can you dare to be yourself. These are the people that have entered your life and from the first moment you knew them it felt like you have always known them. The friends I am referring to are the ones that for whatever reason, be it life destiny or countless miles from moving and the passage of time becomes long, that when that moment you contact each other again, even if it has only been a day or five years it seems just like it has just been an hour since you spoke to them. The poem below is about my friend “Bill” and in our case I moved away after my divorce from my wife of 19 years and lost contact with him for a long time. The miles and distance were a factor in not keeping contact, but from time to time we would email or phone one another. Each time we did, it is just like I had never left. Just like Muhammad Ali said it is tough to explain, but one thing I know about is the meaning of friendship. I wrote this to be an ode to “Bill”, but in reality it is an ode to friendship.
Bill
This poem is a tale of a friend of mine,
To find him head north until you see an I-90 sign.
Bill Termes hails from the Black Hills of South Dakota,
Where the Highway Patrol hand out tickets to meet their quota.
Now Bill is a man of fifty or so years,
His body has gone to hell drinking to many damn beers.
He looks like an older “Kevin Costner” in “Wyatt Earp,”
In Company or not Bill is liable scratch his ass, fart & burp.
Cowboy at heart with horses, tack and cowboy hat,
Likes to jaw with friends and chew the fat.
Bill likes to talk and you will get your fill,
Of all things according to the world of Bill.
He likes to tell stories of year’s gone by,
Some true, some tall tales, most or an outright lie.
Worst joke teller I ever did hear,
Stumbles over punch lines year after year.
Bill’s not only a cowboy, he also is western history buff,
Bill has cowboy boots, spurs, and all that cowboy stuff.
He may think he is like Costner, Ward Bond or John Wayne,
Not at all, in Bill’s world he is more than mundane.
After reading this, sorry poem line after line,
You would think “Pain In The Ass” by accident or design.
Now I will tell in this tale known only to a few,
Something for your brain pan & mind to chew.
You might even say I am short-changed or mentally ill,
I could not ask for a better friend than Bill.
Written by Kurt James
Kurt James © 2016
Kurt James novel “Rocky Mountain Reckoning” is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, Walmart and many other stores that carry the books you love to read.
A poet and novelist, Kurt writes Western fiction and historical adventure with grit, realism, and heart. His work has been featured by the Denver Post, PM Magazine, and 9NEWS, and praised for capturing the spirit of the Old West in vivid, cinematic detail.
Author of more than twenty books, Kurt’s acclaimed Rocky Mountain Series brings the frontier to life through powerful storytelling and unforgettable landscapes. His upcoming novels—Reifschneider Stagecoach Detective and Winter of the Wolf Moon—continue that legacy.
Kurt James is a proud member of the Western Writers of America.
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Friendships are special gifts in life. Thanks for sharing your memories about Bill and your poem is great, Kurt. Nicely penned, an enjoyable read.
Thanks Phyllis, having good friends in life is really what it is all about.
Emotively written of a true friendship Kurt, something we should all value highly. In the end we don’t have many real friends, those with whom we share a special connection. Nicely penned and expressed. Note: line 6 ‘too many’. Enjoyed my friend.