sailing in company

I wouldn't have chosen you as a friend -
we had no common anchor 
in a sea of choices of companions.
But here we are, decades later
laughing on the phone -

An accident of wind and tide tossed us together
and the things we have in common
are the stories we have shared -
the common weather of 
disappointments and triumphs -
as the world stormed and washed over us
letting us know with certainty
we were single-masted boats in a vast ocean.

We have willed our friendship into being
first weaving strands from the salty air
then rope from those strands.
It is a thing from nothing,
but as our grip on the rudder 
diminishes arthritically,
its strength binds the distance between us.

I wouldn't have chosen you as a friend
when I was young
and did not see below the waves,
when I did not know anchors are meaningless.
I would choose you now.