Just Five Minutes More
I sit here on this frozen stone
Trying to catch the February Sun as it rises over the ridge
I think of you so often now
My Dear Old Friend
While I’m
Walking
Waiting
Watching
With patience pulsing through my veins
I think I’ll just sit and wait here
For maybe just five minutes more
And I think back to that September
A love lost
A life lost
A dream murdered
A future stolen
In that little house on Cedar Street
It still angers me
It still saddens me
To the point of tears and fists clenched white
I think I better stand and wait here
For maybe just five minutes more
Then I think of all the opportunities that were taken from you
And all the chances that I still have to be better
Not perfect, mind you
But better
A better son
A better husband
A better father
A better friend
A better man
And I begin to understand
That even though we’d drifted some
You’d always send me birthday wishes
So my wish to you, My Dear Old Friend
To a February Son
Is for peace, rest, and freedom
And my wish for me, My Dear Old Friend
Beneath this February Sun
Is to make the most of the time still left
And to one day talk to you like so long ago
For maybe just five minutes more
— JFW – 2/18/12 —
