Who Are My Friends?
Who are my friends?
These gems against a dark sky!
My chosen, my found, my beloved,
This is why!
They are the people who do not sleepwalk through their lives.
Though each be as different from each other as jam and chives,
This is the link,
They are the people who stop and think!
Who don't do what is done,
Because it's done and always has been.
They are the people who have seen,
That the middle of the herd,
Isn't where they want to be.
They use their own judgment,
They have their own passions,
They are free!
My friends are the people who accepted me,
When the sleepwalkers found me strange.
They have lit my life with joy,
And taught me how to be
Most truly myself.
I have been beyond fortunate,
To find the people,
Who could let me be who I am,
When I couldn't act a sham.
Who are individual enough themselves,
To befriend someone out of the norm,
And never turn and tell me I should conform.
Without them I would have been utterly lost.
They are strong and witty and wise and kind,
They have the courage to live with their eyes open.
In their own way each one is a shining star,
And I want my friends to know,
What very special people they are.

Valerie Higgins