Around The Corner

By Charles Hanson Towne

Around the corner I have a friend
In this great city that has no end;
Yet days go by and weeks rush on,
And before I know it a year has gone;
And I never see my old friend's face;
For life is a swift and terrible race.

He knows I like him just as well,
As in the days when I rang his bell,
And he rang mine. We were younger then;
But now we are busy, tired men-
Tired with playing a foolish game;
Tired with trying to make a name.

"Tomorrow", I say, "I'll call on Jim,
Just to show I'm thinking of him."
But tomorrow comes and tomorrow goes.
And the distance between us grows and grows.
Around the corner-yet miles away.
"Here's a telegram, sir"-Jim died today!
And that's what we get, and deserve in the end.
Around the corner, a vanished friend.

To Jim Polczynski

1950-1985