i would have yearned
to call you friend
and kindred spirit
brother
if not for the tresapass
upon my heart
and we would have talked
and lifted one-another
to greater heights
to stronger heights
as brethren are meant to do

instead i must mourn
the loss of what would have been
the abandonment of what could have been
all for a pouch of silver
and a noose around a neck
to be hung from a dead branch
as is the outcome for treachery