New Friends

she's so new that her name doesn't quite stick yet
but you love her smile, her words, her being so her,
so fresh, so fun, so smart.
new friends that you somehow stuff into a spot in your schedule
when someone else you love is away, he takes up so much time.
the old friends, the dear friends, the ones you have loved for so long
that their names show up in your dreams, and your words stumble
over each other in the confusion of happiness that you are so
lucky to have them wired hard into your neurons, you smile
in your sleep thinking of them, you feel their embrace when
times are hard.
new friends are like fireworks far up in the sky, you watch
the blue and yellow and red flares drift towards the uncertain
Earth.