by Charles Hanson Towne
Around the corner I have a friend,
In this great city that has no end,
Yet the days go by and weeks rush on,
And before I know it, a year is gone.
And I never see my old friends face,
For life is a swift and terrible race,
He knows I like him just as well,
As in the days when I rang his bell.
And he rang mine but we were younger then,
And now we are busy, tired men.
Tired of playing a foolish game,
Tired of trying to make a name.
“Tomorrow” I say! “I will call on Jim
Just to show that I’m thinking of him”,
But tomorrow comes and tomorrow goes,
And distance between us grows and grows.
Around the corner, yet miles away,
“Here’s a telegram sir,” “Jim died today.”
And that’s what we get and deserve in the end.
Around the corner, a vanished friend.
———-
This is one of my favorite poems. It always touches my heart, but ironically, it never makes me get on the phone (nor facebook) to say ‘hi’ to my old friends. One biggest lost I’ve had is when I heard R passed away. It felt like a little part of my heart being yanked out. Hurtful, but I could do nothing about it. He was gone too soon. I wished once I called him and ask ‘how are you doing?’ I wished he knew that he had carved his name in my history.
Some random thoughts 