I Like You Better Now

We were young and foolish when we met.
Playing with lipstick and bats were our games.
Your face all red and round, dirty--always dirty.
Mine was no better, but don't you dare say so.


Time parted our ways, as distance killed our games.
Books and writings became my life.
You have become a stranger somewhere.
Silence, always silence, was between us.


I saw you again in papers, and posters;
Over glass windows, and glossy covers.
Went to buy some music and saw your face
All over the place; who are you now?




We haven't talked for years and years.
I am nothing to you, as you've become a ghost to me.
So I bought my music and left you in your world.
I felt proud for you in that short instance.


I saw you again on the stage, well dressed;
Looking dapper and well-loved in black,
Clapping and singing with the crowd,
Realizing my friend was no more.


Cutting my hair yet again for comfort,
Someone whispered you are in trouble.
Caught in a scandal, losing your face,
People who loved you, mocking your fame.


They took down your posters, removed your photos;
Everybody saying that you have lost your favor.
Where are you now? My friend, a stranger.
Nowhere on the glass windows; on matted covers.


Spring, summer, fall, and winter went away.
Again and again and again.
Your face has faded from the crowd's memory.
It's okay, I still carry your music in my case.


I saw someone playing ball in my old neighborhood.
Playing with the kids I'm trying to teach and discipline.
Everyone was cheering and jumping, having fun.
Enjoying the rare day when someone shower them time.


Smiling, I hollered and waved to them.
The stranger turned, stared, and then smiled.
My heart skipped a beat, beat louder, and louder.
He smiled, waved, thorn my heart asunder.


My stranger friend has come back to me.
Looking dapper covered in dusk and sweat,
Holding a ball almost shiny from so many dirty hands.
Your music in my case, but I like you better now.


#RM