On An Unfriendly Friend

He sat there, obese and brazen,
Enjoying life beside yet another girl –
Younger than his wife, as always; he loves them all,
Surrounded in his old age by a veritable harem.
He never listened to what I tried to tell him,
If he was even around at all;
Most of the time he avoided me,
As if I were a leper, infecting him with my disease.
I suppose being human requires courage –
He lost it, and thank heavens for that.
No one knows what he’s really thinking;
He was neck-deep in lies.
Whenever I tried to broach the things that mattered,
My voice was stifled, just like the sound coming from within him;
The truth was unpleasant to his narcissistic ears.
He learned that from the mother he criticized so often,
And now, after all these years, he is her spitting image –
He’s even admitted it himself a few times.
But it makes no difference to me;
If I’m the victim and have to pay the price
For wanting a friend, then to hell with it.