Grown-up Friend?ships

It was simple once,

a shared donut, a borrowed pencil,

a smile in a crowded hallway.

Tiny gives, tiny takes,

bearing soft silent witness.

We shouldered each other's fears,

with ribs to hold space

when we couldn't exhale,

a costless exchange

that never tallied marks-

those were for MASH

on crumpled tear stained

notebook paper.

Music passed between CD players,

the love language of sound

headphone buds tangled between seats,

hands slipped into jacket pockets,

scars covered in tenderness,

or was it innocence?

Before we were torn apart,

turned to stone by our own

personal medusas.

I fought against the granite,

clawed at the water

as if it could keep me ethereal

but all their bitterness

has calcified my marrow

woman of steel, without the cape

Now I cannot seem to let anyone in