Around the Corner

Around the corner I have a friend,
In this great city which has no end;
Yet days go by and weeks rush on,
And before I know it a year is gone,
And I never see my 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;
And now we are busy, tired men
Tired with playing a foolish game,
Tired with trying to make a name.
"Tomorrow," I say, "I will call on him."
But tomorrow comes-and tomorrow goes,
And the distance between us grows and grows.
Around the corned-yet miles away
"Here's a telegram, sir, Jim died today!"
And that's what we get-yet deserve in the end
Around the corner a vanished friend.

--Charles Hanson Towne