Afternoon strolls, always a favorite pastime of mine,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sunnies on, head up, no chitchat, nothing to break my\nstrides,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saw him from the corner of my eye, out and about on his\nlonesome,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A significant figure from my past, been almost twenty since\nwe saw each other last,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Had to do a double take, surely these eyes must be tricking,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not much \u2018bout him changed, save for some subtle signs of\nageing,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some greys here and there, lines near the eyes, hadn\u2019t seen\nhim since graduation,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s more than twenty years, I wonder if he remembers who\nI am?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only one way to find out, gonna run up on this dude,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s now or never, excuse the attitude, hope he won\u2019t think\nI\u2019m crude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHey, Bud. Remember me?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A smile spread across his features, this surely was a random\nencounter,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHey, how\u2019ve you been? So good to see you,\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAin\u2019t nothing changed, Brother, seems like the same for you\ntoo,\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We walked for a while, exchanging war stories from our\nlives,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sat down on a bench eventually, chopped it up \u2018til the sun\nstarted disappearing,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seemed like old times once more, but then it occurred to me,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Something different about him now, of the type rather sad\nand melancholy,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Change is inevitable, no one is spared,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019ll do its work as the time passes, better go with it or be\nleft in the ashes,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it ain\u2019t always sunshine and rainbows, the good and the\nbad come together,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Enhancing some aspect of our lives while deteriorating\nothers,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his case he seemed to have it all, working his dream job\nand generally having a ball,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But his demeanour seemed unfamiliar, at least from the kid\nthat I\u2019d known before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was positivity personified during years past,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Up for fun and laughs at the drop of a hat, couldn\u2019t get\ncooler than that,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the present he seems bitter, not talking so much as\nranting,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Harbouring bitterness and hatred in seemingly equal\nmeasures,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seemingly contemptuous at what once set his soul aflame,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sure, we acquire knowledge and changed interests along the\nway, from birth \u2018til death we rarely stay the same,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The contrast, still, of the past and the present was kind of\nsad and disturbing,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Is this really the same dude? Or just someone with more\nthan a passing resemblance?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, we continued to converse, most of it spent\nreminiscing on the past,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every once in a while bursting into fits of belly laughs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Time flew, soon it was time to get going,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Agreed to meet up again but such sentiments seem to mean\nnothing,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Life gets busy after all, we keep moving different\ndirections,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We may cross paths again but fat chance of that happening,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Probably for the best, what I\u2019d learned about him left me\nkinda depressed,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What happened to my friend? From sunshine to cloud the dude\nfell off the deep end,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once upon a time could talk to him about anything,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At times found myself tip-toeing \u2018round eggshells during our\nlittle reunion,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Was tempted to ask him what brought about this\ntransformation,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But better to leave the proverbial can closed, don\u2019t want to\nclean up the contents, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If this is it then perhaps it\u2019s best to wish him well, even\nif we\u2019re strangers once more,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hold on tight to memories of when we were small, teammates\nand brothers of sorts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Afternoon strolls, always a favorite pastime of mine, Sunnies on, head up, no chitchat, nothing to break my strides, Saw him from the corner of my eye, out and about on his lonesome, A significant figure from my past, been almost twenty since we saw each other last, Had to do a double take, surely … <\/p>\n