A real estate agent advises new buyers,
“One house will not give you everything.
You cannot find it all beneath one roof:
the ideal kitchen, the preferred bathroom,
or every wish you’ve stored inside.
Some dreams are met, and some denied.”
So hear this now, and hold it fast:
No single friendship, built to last,
will pour out every want you feel.
One friend is laughter, one alone
is spontaneous, and another is structured.
One provides threads, another weaves.
To ask one heart to be your all
Is to build a house of friendship on slippery sand.
Do not chase that hollow flame,
The perfect friend with no last name,
The soul that holds your rain and light,
Your every wrong, your every right.
That house does not exist on Earth.
That friendship never comes to birth.
Let each friend bring what they can carry,
A cup for thirst, a hand to marry
To your own hand when you are lost.
But do not demand they pay the cost
of every need you’ve ever known.
Let one be rain, let one be stone.
Let one be the door, let one be the key.
And you will finally be free
of the sweet and cruel lie that says:
One love will roof all of your days.
No Single House, No Single Heart
