A/N: Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, a21 - ballade poetry.
What Could Have Been a Beautiful Friendship
It was a long journey from their ends,
ends they would, after their deaths, lament.
They could have wound up the best of friends.
Unfortunately, that chance was spent
and their too short lives – straight paths bent
and souls turned crooked. Before they say
the words of forgiveness, they are spent.
If only there'd been another way.
Too quick, it was too late for amends.
Time was not as cheap as a bronze cent;
the mourners had nothing that transcends
the aftermath of that sad descent.
Oft said: if only they could prevent
the tale written on the dossier,
or a time machine, they could invent.
If only there'd been another way.
The happy time in between defends
the notion of a happy present
being possible, without pretends,
where each joke, each happy word was meant.
The beginning – they met with dissent
and that led their potential astray.
They were both trapped, struggling to vent.
If only there'd been another way.
They fought bitterly, with supplement.
It ended with both ghosts dead that day.
They both lost. Neither one was content.
If only there'd been another way.