Friendship

Whoever said true friendships last forver,
Lived in a world of lies,
Because some friendships,
Sooner or later,
Will meet their demise.
But it doesn't matter how it ends,
It just matters how it was,
Because every friend,
Past or present,
Are worth their weight in gold.

Through all my years at primary school,
I've had many friends.
Some have stayed with me time after time,
Some just came and went.
But a true friend never becomes an enemy
And they never stop being friendly.

A friendship is not a relationship without arguments or tears,
It's not bliss,
It's better,
Every moment
Priceless.

Friendships don't have use-by dates,
Instruction manuals or user warnings.
Everything is trial and error.
And sometimes, your trial is too bold,
Your error too great.
But mostly,
You work things out,
As time and events unfold.

So as our time together draws to an end,
It becomes clear that some friendships will last forever.
Others will drift away,
And happy times,
Become happy memories.

This is the poem I wrote and read out for my graduation ceremony, which turned out to be a disaster... but anyhoo, I hope you like it. I only changed one thing from the original version - I just edited out the name of my primary school for privacy reasons.

Everyone else (who didn't recite poems - just regular speeches) wrote about all the good things that had happened, misting over the dark side of primary school. They created a picture so free of of error and mistakes, it was hardly realistic. Like they were royal painters in a vain attempt to make a portrait of an ugly queen more sympathetic.

I was the first person ever to submit a poem to be considered as one of the six speeches. I was competing with a lot of people - speeches are memorable and exciting, a rare opportunity - and I hoped that my unique approach to the challenge would secure my place. It did, although reception of my poem was clearly mixed.

You see, teachers are used to students who cover up all faults, both intentional and accidental, without a second thought. Originally, my poem was rejected for being 'too dark' - but she'd only read the first two lines. That to me was judging the book by it's cover - or, in this case, judging a poem by it's first two lines.

So I was very careful to create a poem that conveyed my opinions clearly, but light enough so that teachers could hardly object. Other teachers liked the emotion that fueled the poem, and I received some commendation for that. Some students blindly praised me, as they always do, some congratulated me genuinely and affectionately. Others, either resentful of my coveted talent, openly critizised every possible angle of the poem, some accusations of which were actually quite funny - so obscure and bizarre. Others, bitter at having the finger of blame pointed indirectly at them, especially in this verse:

Through all my years at primary school,
I've had many friends.
Some have stayed with me time after time,
Some just came and went. etc.

Just glared at me, incapable of producing a sufficient accusations, mostly because I didn't mention any names or specific cliques - I'm not that dumb.

I published this on my blog mostly because I like posting my poems, but also because I really want to know:

What do you think?