Before We Go

We weren’t meant to be friends—

not at first.

You called me stubborn,

I called you worse.

(You won the glare-offs.

I won the race.)

Somewhere between

the fire and pace—

we laughed.

We stayed.

We found our place.

Time never asked us to slow.

It spun,

leapt,

blurred—

But we learned to grow

between the tests and whispered notes,

through fights that ended

in shared jokes.

Now look—

you’re off, a comet’s trail.

Farther than weekends,

beyond the pale

of sleepy streets and lunch bells’ song.

I blink,

and somehow,

you’re already gone.

But this isn’t goodbye.

It’s go on, shine.

The stars are late,

but they’re still on time.

And I’ll ,

as I always do—

each part of school

was more with you.