My Friend

My Friend

I carried a friend with me today.
A friend that could not talk or escape from my cage.
I carried this friend on my back.

We hiked a snow covered trail.
The stream was mostly frozen, except for small pools of water hiding beneath white pillows of rock.
The air was cool, the sky a stormy gray.
I was quite warm.
My friend felt nothing at all.

The trail ahead was empty and quiet,
Only the occasional soft noise of snow falling from a windswept fir.
With all of this solitude I did not once speak to my friend.
My mind was overwhelmed and engrossed with memories and sorrow.

I knew where I wanted to go.
To me it seemed fitting.
The trail apparently did not agree.
It soon ended.
The snow too deep. The trail too well hidden.
I was forced to double back.

I searched quickly for an appropriate place.
One that I would always be able to remember and of course find.
There it stood. Starting as two and becoming one.
Perhaps the reverse would have been a more ideal resting spot, but my friend and I were always one.

I walked carefully to the bottom of this most peculiar tree and let my friend down for the last time.
I gazed for awhile possibly waiting to cry. 
It did not happen, although I knew it was there.

I walked away quietly.
The sound of the snow compressing beneath my feet.
I returned to the trail and left without my friend