I wrote this piece years ago when I was 24 after working with Wynn on various Fidonet, OPUS, and Echomail related issues while I was building a network called the Gay Community Link (GCL). Oddly enough, I had no idea that I could feel so strongly about a person who existed only as a series of electrons floating over a phone line.

I haven't decided whether this was "LOVE AT FIRST BYTE" or what. And it still boggles my mind that such a bond could have been formed even then...

A Friend I’ve Never Met
by Rick Wagner May, 1985

A friend I've never met
Has helped me to relate,
To feelings deep within me
Unspoken to this date.

A friend I've never met
He taught me how to deal,
With life's unexpected moments
Both fantasy, and real.

A friend I've never met
Taught me how to see life
In a brand new perspective
Above daily toil and strife

A friend I've never met
Has taken time to fill a spot
Inside my heart with love and warmth
A place where there was not.
I've learned to see
That the key is me
And I control my pleasure.
For a friend I've never met
Has given me more
Than words can ever measure.

How I wish that he could hold me
And caress me through the night
To ease this sense of loneliness
And make me feel alright.

But a friend I've never met
Remains faceless to this day.
A million miles of distance
In a scene from a different play.
How shallow, our lives reflect
When all we seek is power and respect.
When it's the simple things
That mean so much,
A sweet "Hello" a tender Touch.
Touched by a friend I've never met.

And as many would say to this very day
Between one another:
"Lovers can't be freinds,
When a relationship ends,
But a freind can be a lover."

I can't help but wonder
Nor would I dare to bet,
If one went free
And the other took me,
Could I fall in love with...

A Friend I've Never Met