A perfect friend

Perfect Life 

I had a perfect friend, 

I see a perfect life-

thirty years apart, 

but a few public photos tell it all.

Her family was steady

from the day she was born. 

No shadows to wrestle, 

no scales out of form. 

Her steady mind

 sashayed her through college years,

School sweetheart marriage, 

their children grew 

    just as they should. 

Her husband still brings her roses. 

Date nights, dinners, 

evening walks, 

   contented, hand in hand. 

They bought wisely- 

a house in a place on the rise, 

thinking of schools, 

 of lifestyle, 

 not a village in demise. 

Facebook whispers: 

 Add her. 

It knows I’ve been circling 

     her polished life.

 Her Tupperware doesn’t cascade

 (Private sharing only!) 

Perfect her. 

Perfect life. 

 (Where are her wrinkles?) 

My time has been 

      a bucket of messy

 decisions, 

     a messy life, 

        a brain 

             spilling 

     chaos. 

 Climbing mountains.

     Running roads. 

         Paddling rivers. 

  Muddy games

        in muddy fields. 

 Litter picking 

         my world clean. 

 Friends

          I can count on.

 A career

          forged in my own way. 

 Marriages,

     child, grandchildren.

 Guiding girls

      through adventures 

       beyond compare.

 Ohhhhhhh 

            imperfect me

                good life