Bookends To A Decade Poem by Tricia Mae Chua

Like bookends to a decade
You shy of forty by two
I two just off thirty
With pages of life in between
Bound together by tiny seams.
Some crinkled and old with markings all over,
Some suffering from slight tears at the edges.
Somewhere a distinct smell of pine,
And the lingering scent of cinnamon and rosewood
Amidst tea stains dark and heavy
Spilled across ivory crisp paper
You six have lived,
I six still to be lived.
Holding together what is dear
In words and in thought,
In love arresting,
In friendship renewing.