No Stone Unturned
I remember a time, embraced
not in fondness, but for
lessons learned. Disappointment
hidden in someone taken
at face value, motives disguised
as good intention, casting off affection
for self advancement, friendship
as a tool. Healing came
in casting off that friendship.
This is a response to Lillian’s prompt for Poetics: Turn, Turn, Turn… at dVerse. She asks that we let references in the well known Ecclesiastes verse (made even more familiar by the song “Turn, Turn, Turn) motivate our poetry:
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 American Standard Version (ASV).
Image source: pexels.com / lalesh aldarwish
rivrvlogr 
This is a profound lesson Ken.
“Healing came
in casting off that friendship”
…Beautiful
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Thank you, Hélène.
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What a powerful message encased in these beautifully written words.
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Thank you.
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Perhaps the “spoils of friendship” might be an apt way to define this type of friendship. So glad you posted to the prompt…..”No Stone Unturned” — as in beginning to understand the reality of why this particular “friendship” evolved and then casting it off. This is a level of wisdom achieved…to face a harsh reality as to why someone has sought our friendship.
I’m also reminded of that saying, He who has not sinned shall cast the first stone.”
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Thank you, Lillian. Yes, too often a situation will be one sided, with one having total disregard for the other – more a matter of ego.
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Sooner or later everyone lets you down, family or friends; yet the situation you describe was one that needed curtailment.
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I think that would depend on expectations.
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Some times are painful. I find most of those kinds of lessons painful.
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We live and learn.
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A time to let go … the hardest lesson of all. Good write.
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Thank you.
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That betrayal leaves scars. (K)
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Time has the ability to make faint memories, and sometimes that’s best.
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That’s a thought, Ken, ‘friendship as a tool’. Sometimes we just have to let go.
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Thank you, Kim. Sometimes you have to take a step back to understand.
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Beautifully said–and wise, too. It’s sad to have to cast off a friendship–until you realize it’s not really a friendship.
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Thank you, Merril. Some lessons don’t come easy.
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That’s so true. Some are very difficult.
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We cannot please everyone. As another song I remember says something like; you have to please yourself. Letting go can relieve great weights, allowing us to make room for new friendships. 🙂
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So true, Jules.
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thought-provoking, Ken.
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Thank you.
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