Yin Yang

(for Colleen)

A friend of mine and I

Have known each other

Since we were 13 years old

She sort of knew me then

But she really knows me now

We get along well

Her life was always normal

Shockingly normal

She thought others’ lives were, too

But she cares

So when she found out

How others struggle

Or have struggled

She wanted to know more

She wanted to help

She wanted to understand

So we talk about school

I tell her who was beaten

Who was drunk

Who cut their wrists

Who had an abortion

And those are just the ones I know

Her heart goes out

To these figures in the past

Because that’s all she can do

Then she asks about now

When she sees I’m

Having a hard time

She tries to understand

So we talk again

And it helps

But I spare her the worst of it

Because some of us

Are used to the muck and grime

Dragging the boat through the leeches

Like Bogie in “The African Queen”

But someone has to be Hepburn

Sitting in the boat

Staying safe and clean

So they can heal and inspire us

That’s my friend

(4/3/20)