Growing Older

Since when do we have to be vulnerable,
How did I forget something so fundamental,
Smile, wave, cheer them on,
Momentos when they're gone too long,

Two weeks, four months, maybe years,
They hold you close,
You shed few tears,

They come back older,
Not the same,
You laugh at parts that have not changed,

No longer sure how to keep friends,
Confidence wavers, shifts, bends,
They plant themselves into your mind,
Make roots with memories,
Tight hold of vines,

Weeks lost at houses,
Walls covered in paint,
New homes in people,
no constraints,

How long it has been,
Since being so close,
To wax and wane,
To share a toast,

To humans that time pulls apart,
Joined by grief, loss, love, and art.