For a friend

My dear friend Noreen is gravely ill. Each time the phone rings I fear it is her husband, Michael, calling to tell me she is gone. She’s had health problems for many years, and this seems to be the culmination of them all: heart, asthma, I don’t know what-all else.
Noreen and Michael are friends left over from a failed ‘relationship’ of years ago. Noreen and Jerry were cousins; they had not been in touch for years and reconnected during Jerry’s and my time together. When Jerry and I separated, I ‘kept’ Noreen’s friendship for which I will always be grateful and pleased. Jerry gained another lady friend after our split, and those two couples did not get along; this caused a rift between Jerry and Noreen that she and I often discussed; after his death she despaired over it, that they had missed times together.
She’s opinionated, outspoken and fun. She had some hard times, but kept on past them. She loves her animals, and friends, fiercely. She has a special love for wolves, and has an online ‘pack’ of friends that share interests and thinking.
We talk online, and I called her a couple of months ago, maybe more than a couple now. I visited several years ago, travel has been hard for her. We planned to go to a town in southern New Jersey called Shellpile, and to meet at a wolf sanctuary, but those were scrapped by one of her health issues. I keep saying I’d try to get down (Jersey Shore) to see them again, but as we all know how those things go, hadn’t made it. Or called again.
Now I hope I get another chance to.
Here’s what I think: that we should make the call, make the trip, when we can. Don’t put it off, because the chance might be taken away. Tell people now, when they can hear you. Because feeling like ‘I should have’ when it’s too late sucks.

Fly, fly, wolf-spirit friend
Through the forest
Over the fields
Stop, stop and stare
At what is ahead
Do you race on alone
Or stay with your pack
For more time
Only a greater spirit than ours knows
We pray he lets us have you longer
And hope to understand if he does not
Fly, fly, wolf-spirit friend
To the destiny best for you