[43] Poet Friends, Thomas R. Smith

……………[For Danny Klecko]

To become friends with someone is to agree
to be changed by them. Not everyone
is willing to take that risk. Ego tells us
to remain aloof and safe. And friends have
the power to hurt like no other. Is that
why so many can only hear themselves?

We approach each other in our own ways,
each a world spinning through our own space—
but look, we are orbiting the same sun!
We draw energy from the same source,
reflect it to the universe, and call
it poetry. Listening to a different
music, we gain courage to feel for another,
the ordinary courage of friendship.