Existential Togetherness

I have a few on whom I can depend
Other people come and go and hurt me
But I have three great kids and one great friend

As fickle and flighty ones desert me
I count my faithful few and find these four
Quite enough really and I ask no more

Of course one can never have too many
Should you like to become my friend come on
Years I wandered without having any
None anyone could ever depend on

But I am blessed now and not complaining
I wish those who have come and gone the best
That these four know me without explaining
Means everything and never mind the rest

Now that I think of him I should add Fred
Without my fat old cat I might be dead
By now but all of us made it somehow
This far because of what great friends we are

As sure a thing as one can find in life
A surer thing than wealth or health or wife
And yet I am ultimately alone

But let me pretend now as I descend
Now as I slip into the great unknown
I have a few on whom I can depend

I realize that maybe tomorrow
My friend might leave me and cause me sorrow
So this is it then irreducibly:

My kids and my cat are just stuck with me
Three kids a cat and possibly a friend
Which is still pretty good if understood

+Steven Curtis Lance

Bayard Cutting Arboretum
Kings Park, Long Island
New York
April 20, 2008