To my heart's companion:

I have learned to unlove
Many whom I once thought worthy,
But thro' the long years,
In silence and in speech,
I have not begun to learn
How to unlove thee,
My heart's companion

It was your quiet presence
Your pure intent to delight in me
Only because I was your friend
And you were mine

Where once I was known to no one
Invisible and hidden I came
I showed you who I was
And you saw me

We may not be ever attached
As we once were
But if I could ever learn to unlove thee
I would no longer be me

The past years would lose all its meaning
I would not be the one you loved
I would not be the one you knew

Since I cannot be anyone other than me
I must love you until my last breath
You could not become any less dear to me
From year to year to year

For you entered my life
You taught me what true friendship was
And it was more beautiful than what I knew "friendship" could possibly be

It was not just knowing a person by name
Knowing their likes and dislikes
It was not even just knowing their joys and their pains
Friendship was seeing a person for who they truly were
Seeing where they had come from and the journey their life had taken
To arrive at this point
It was accepting
It was uplifting
It was showing you when you forgot that you are worthy of love
It was healing
It was binding wounds of the past
Forgiving when hurts were caused
And feeling the other's pain more than one's own
It was loving at all costs
It was being present in hardship
It was taking joy in your victories as though they were my own

My joy was in knowing you
And in letting you know me
We saw in each other
What we could become

You are a mother now and so am I
You have your share of victories and defeats
In this cruel life
We have gone through heartache
We have soared
Yet still I am here waiting
Let me share this life with you
Let me see you once again

In all the sweat and blood and tears
My sister, my friend
Let me be present
We do not ever need to be alone