Seven Ages of Friendship

Having been thrown into Expat lifestyle at a very young age, my daughter is learning fast how to cope with the strange balance of friendships that develop. Every year one best buddy leaves, every year there are new bonds being forged, not to replace the old ones but to maintain a complicity and intimacy that gives her the emotional stability that lacks in our geographical solidity.

When asked by her English teacher to adapt "The Seven Ages of Man" by William Shakespeare into a different category of her choice, this is what she wrote:

Seven Ages of Friendship

All the world’s thine companion,
And all the friends and enemies are mere relationships.
They have their positives and their negatives.
And one friend in their life, plays many parts.
Their acts being of seven ages, at first a distant pupil.
Few words exchanged in the past.
Then the aquainstance,
Working together at school, like two swans.
And then the young friendship, blossoming into something new,
Acting like best friends. Then, the close company,
Whispered secrets in the hallways,
Never lonely at lunch or break.
And then the gatherings at each others houses,
The boys always pretending to be knights,
With their swords and shields, fighting away.
The sixth stage follows
Into a promise that would always be kept.
Everlasting friendship would always be remembered.
That ends this strange eventful history,
Upon the two they will always be remembered,
Sans lies, sans jealousy, sans insults, sans quarles.