## 88:18
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> Lover and Friend Put Far
>> Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.

Occasion: Loss of a friend

Lord, their voicemail is still in my phone.
I haven't deleted it.
I don't think I ever will.

People keep asking how I'm doing.
I evade a straight answer
because this loss doesn't have the shape
people know how to ask about.

We weren't married.
We weren't family.
We were just the two people
who understood the same jokes,
shared interests and history,
and called each other first.

"A dear friend taken from me" ---
that's a line from an old prayer, Lord,
and it's exactly right.

I don't know where to put this grief.
It doesn't fit the boxes people hand me.

So let me bring it to You instead.
You know what this friendship meant to me,
even if no one else quite gets it.

Keep their voice with me somehow.
Keep the jokes.
Keep what only the two of us shared.

Be the friend that stays,
now that one has gone.

Amen.