Our friends on Facebook
have reminded me
that our friendship started
five years ago today
and we should celebrate the anniversary
of our relationship
with all due enthusiasm.

I haven’t the heart to tell Facebook
that we’ve known each other
for thrice that time
and just got around to the social media announcement
when we’d bothered to find each other.

It makes sense
that Facebook
would only care about Facebook
and our friends on Facebook
bound by the same structure
would think so very much
of its own chronology
but
I am not ready
to celebrate this particular non-existent anniversary
any more than I am my sign
in the new astrology.

Their dates do not matter.
Only ours do
and when we celebrate a friendiversary
we will need no algorithm to tell us how.