We lock horns like rams
Caring nothing for each other
Heaping insults with abandon
That knows few limits

We strangle each other with words
Wondering how to best offend
Then at the end, tired,
Like dogs we lick our wounds

Another round of upset
And still there are no answers
How did you and I come to be
In each others' lives?

Never in the history
Of friendships started, failed
Have there been two members
More at odds than you and I

Yet once I thought I lost you
And twice I knew you left
And each time it was like
The earth stood still

The books that you had given
Begging me to read
Still stacked carelessly on the counter
Scream at me like you used to

Everywhere, reminders,
Of places, people, things
Songs we used to sing
In better times

The slaughterhouse of friendship
Has left me locked and cold
I wander through my own house
Listlessly

Watching for your face
Listening for your knock
What if it never comes?
I shout in silence

Just yesterday I promised
Joy would follow in your tracks
The farther away you ran
The happier I would be

Yet today there is an absence
A void that nothing fills
And never will again,
Because you're too far

But a sinking feeling tells me
If tomorrow you return
We'll be stomping feet again
Right in my parlor

No matter--I think strangely
So let us fight again
It won't be something
I'm unarmed against

Just let me hear the timbre
Of your hollow voice in anger
For by night it's always over
And again, you'll be my brother.

J. Macc. 1977 (Nov. 20)