“So, friendships wither and die?”

Becomes a healing mantra,

Filling in the craters

That pock an empty road

 –

Despite the creeping cold

Chasing flocks of memories

Back to their nests

From a fragmented slumber

–

The old oaths we swore

Long ago in our forts,

Fade gently with age  

Just as we were told  

–

So fellowship and fantasy  

Take flight in the night,

Settling on the shoulders

Of another vacant soul