Some one
Just the other day
Asked me about my good friends, did I have any?
And I laughed about what he meant
Did he mean the ones who owed me money?
Or the ones who wrote long letters of apology
From time to time about mute points
Or the ones who travelled by my side
If only for security and direction
Or indeed the one’s I loved and in turn loved me
For all of those years the so called mates and lovers
Who kindly made arrangements they could not keep
Because of another lover or perhaps another friend
Or a travel arrangement not disclosed
Or some tryst by a photographer promising everything
And the ones who used all of my resources with no hope of return
No prospect of renewal never to be trusted ever again
And to this day when I count the dollars you must wonder
Why am I not rich?
And to the girls in my life who should be so pleased
That I could be so easily led
For they have profited well indeed and I loved those times
For integrity has not been invented with this rabble
I told him
And gay abandon rules the roost
But to dream when I was young, now two score ere
Integrity was a natural attribute and Old Joe still lived
I think I was a good kid and I do have a friend
An old soldier and a mate for thirty plus years
And we love each other still