Have you ever received a friendship poem from a friend before? I don’t recall ever receiving one myself, but I do remember sharing one with a new friend. It was many years ago back in elementary school, summer had just finished and a new school year had just begun.
I was starting grade five, many familiar faces in class I noticed that morning, I also noticed outside of the class room the was a girl who just kept passing by the door way, walking past it back and forth as if she were lost.
“This is Maya”, the teacher introduced the student to the class. Not only was Maya new to the school, she was also new to this country. The teacher asked Maya to find a desk and chair and to have a seat. As I looked around I noticed all the desks with chairs were occupied with a student.
“You may share this desk with me”, I mentioned to Maya. Maya pulled up a chair sitting right next to me and said,” Thank you”.
Both Maya and I shared this desk for the remainder of that morning.
Maya told me she just arrived from England two weeks ago. Her parents were both business people who constantly moved to different countries; it was part of their job.
Maya didn’t like that very much; she shed some tears during recess that morning saying she doesn’t want to move anymore. “I just want to meet a good friend, so we can share a laugh, share special moments, play games and do fun adventures”. Deep down inside, I felt Maya was really missing the friends she met, and the ones she did, wouldn’t last for long.
That evening as I was about to go to bed, I came up with a great idea.
I decided to write a friendship poem for Maya. I thought that if ever she were to move and change schools again, we’d still stay friends forever.
I felt that if I wrote a poem with a few words coming from the heart, Maya would feel that our friendship is for real. It was a beginning to our new friendship.
The next morning I handed Maya this poem. As she started to read this poem, tears of happiness started to run softly down her cheeks. “No one has ever done anything like this for me before”. She said. “Thank you”.
“I will carry it with me always, and if I shall ever feel lonely or find out that I am moving again, I will always remember the friend that welcomed me with open arms and such kind words.
Even if we are worlds apart, I will look back at the poem you wrote me”.
Maya did end up moving away a couple of months later.
Even though we are worlds apart, Maya and I are still in contact. Many years later, Maya lives in Japan, is married to a wonderful husband, and has two precious children and a dog named Roxy. We write to each other monthly and call whenever possible.
It’s been many years since Maya lasted visited Canada, she and her family are planning a trip to Canada this summer. This is very exciting as I will be seeing her after so many years, and will be meeting her own new family for the first time.
I find the words we put into a friendship poem really reflect on our emotions and thoughts or friendships with the other individuals. When I wrote that poem for Maya many years ago, I wasn’t a professional, I just expressed some words about our friendship, how happy I was we met and that I hope we can stay friends forever, and so we did.
Not only did I make Maya feel welcomed to this school, I also felt I did something very nice for someone that just needed a friend.
