I lost a treasure cent by cent
Scarcely noticing I spent
Childhood dreams, secrets shared
Ramming free, no one cared
Side by side in bowling pits
Caddying for the local rich
Lifting weights, playing ball
Elvis parties, we did it all
Ah, the days we learned to drive
Canoe atop, girls beside
Little cash, but we were free
To forge each daily memory
I’ve searched them all, but I can’t say
Who was first to step away
He pursued the Air Force life
Myself to college, soon a wife
Life got in the way so much
Moves and jobs and kids and such
Shackled by our own ambition
Never more those two kids fishin’
Several visits, a call or three
Then he was lost in Tennessee
Battered by time and things I’ve done
As obits named friends one by one
I searched for him to no avail
His folks were gone, he left no trail
Until one day on the internet
I found a clue, he’d not gone yet
I wrote, recalling deed and scheme
When we were brave enough to dream
Found at last, his answer said
He’d heard that I was long since dead
He told of his missing years
Loved ones lost, the joys, the tears
Then these words, precious, yet sad:
You’re still the best friend I ever had
--Johnny Paycash