Version

Coming between them and their defences

His jokes were on permanent loop,

Her asks turned into commandments.

Select rooms had an absence of sorry.

Her gaze went north into nostalgia,

His walk was southbound toward repeats.

Someone there is to pick up the pieces,

Too, someone who can scarcely believe their luck.

Now the words trail behind like lost keys,

Varied versions for each of the friends

And the composite, that’s more like it.

Memory somewhere retains an old happiness

And the arguments that got in the way,

Recapped in a sentence should mention arise.