Dear Elf-Friend

Ten years have disappeared,

Slowly, so-very-slowly in ways,

yet how fast and bleared

go those years of days 

So much has changed, 

and I've changed, too,

but some things stay the same—

like how I miss you

I missed the gift

of your letters, your self,

only when there was a rift

between you and health

Five years, nearly,

since I last saw you, so altered—

I miss you dearly,

even the way your words faltered

So much has stayed:

my foolish words and blind eyes—

but for change I often pray,

and the Lord hears my cries

I miss your songs

and poems, your wonder

and childlike joys, gone,

mind and reality torn asunder

Years and disease

have made you disappear, my friend—

Sorrow brings me to my knees

at how we came to an end

So much might resolve,

but my hopes wane,

as the days and years revolve,

and you don't write again

I miss who you were,

miss what I didn't value

enough when I had it, sir—

oh, if only we knew. . .

If we but knew

how to order our loves,

our minds, our days so few—

how to give thanks to Him above

Had I known

ten years ago,

had I received with thanks,

what difference would that make?