Want to be a friend?

You want be a friend?
And so I want to be yours, too.
But how can that be?
When you send messengers of war
To deliver to me a message of peace?
How can you be a friend?
When your love letters
Arouse my suspicion
And remind me
That truth is not fiction?
How can you be a friend?
When I see your sniper-men
Follow my footsteps
Wherever I go
Watching my every move
Instead of a faithful guide
To aid me cross the wood
To your house?
How can you be a friend?
When you plan to visit me
With a loaded revolver
Fitted with silencer
In your back pocket
And a sharpened knife
Hidden under your ambit?
How can you be a friend?
When you still carry an old baggage
Of misplaced enmity
From dark years gone-by
For a man with no blood in his hands?
Still want be a friend?
You have some work to do
And I will need to do the same
If need be.
Send me true messenger of peace
Burry your misplaced
Enmity in the deepest grave
Toss off your revolvers
And your knives
Into the deepest sea
Call off your snipers
Away from my path
And give me a faithful guide instead
To take me to your banquet
Cultivate trust
In place of suspicion
Tell me truth
And not beautified fiction.
Send me sweets
And not a dish of scorpions
Still want to be a friend?
These things you must do
If need be
I will do them too
And we will be good friends indeed
Bonded by chords of love
United by truth
In service of God
And our fellowmen


John A. Akec
January 08