March 1993*

Our friendship is a relationship created by both of us.
Before we came together, it did not exist.
It is shaped and sustained by our love, or lack of it.
It is a candle that we hold between us,
lighting our way through the world.
We must walk gently and side by side
or the winds or the times will most assuredly extinguish it,
and in our hands will be a thing that merely smokes
and smells and then grows cold.

The two of us are not the relationship.
Otherwise there would be no difference if we had never met.
The relationship is something new that now exists
and it will continue even if we separate permanently.
It is part of us and it will drain or strengthen each of us
depending on whether we nurture it from our hearts or
rob it with our fears.

If we can see this clearly we will instinctively rush to help each other
rather than turn away, and once that reaction becomes habitual,
we will be at one with a great love and a lasting friendship.
And wherever we are we will always
carry the other’s heart in our own
and never feel alone.

James H. Webb