Dear Pen

I don't know how to say this
or quite where to begin
especially after all the years
and situations we've been in
like when i wrote my first letter to a boy
and asked him if he liked me, check yes or no
and you were there to provide catharsis
when he said he had to go
you helped me pour my broken heart out in page after page
and you were still there when my sneaky brother,
a covert war, did wage
when i first found out that he had read those pages for all to hear
you brought the therapy i needed to get out words instead of tears
then, years later, you ...still the loyal friend
were there when my years in high school came to an end
and I had no choice but to sign my life away to some loan
hindsight is 20/20, they say, if only we had known
that four years and countless hours spent with you in hand
instead of leading me to a career
would lead to a foreign land
where you helped me tell about the exciting sights, tastes, and sounds
of a world of new experiences and friends that I had found
but i came back home and when i did
you assisted me once more
you helped me to write back and forth
with the man I came to adore
I loved him more than anyone knew except for you
and you were the one to sign the papers at the courthouse
before we said I do
then, you guided me when I wrote my new, unfamiliar last name
it was so strange to hear, at first, it seemed just like a game
that first time, indeed, felt a little bit odd
but as we stared at it for a moment on the paper
you gave an approving nod
and that name has grown to fit so well
I cannot recall
what my maiden name sounded like
next to my first, at all
so many chapters in my life
you've stood by me and have written
the newest one about my son,
with whom i am quite smitten
remember when you wrote his name on the certificate of his birth
even now, neither of us can write what that moment's worth
or how about the last time, I used you, my dear tool
how hard it was for me to sign that stack of forms for his preschool
and now that brings me back to where i first began
this poem about all the things you and I have
done together in my lifespan
that even with computers, i-phones, and i-pads
i still love you more than all those gizmos, gadgets, and doo-dads
cause you were there from the beginning
and you were always a true friend
and so I promise to do the same
until the very end