I carried that innocence
for years
expecting friends
to wait
where we left them.
Perhaps every ending
teaches distance before it teaches
remembrance.
So when conviction
finally outweighed distance,
I thought
reaching out
would be enough.
Instead, I learned that friendship was never a promise.
And that growing up is not learning how to leave people.
It is learning that the people you thought would always be there
may quietly become memories you carry alone.
Iyanuoluwa Okunola is a Nigerian poet whose poems are layered with meaning, drawn from experience but aimed at something bigger — using simple language to say powerful things.”