By Hannah Shagan, TIWP Student

In French class we discussed the difference between Love, amour,
and Friendship, amitié,
and which you’d rather live without. 

I wrote that there was not one without the other. 
Love is the best part of friendship.
Friendship is the best part of love.
Love without friendship is hollow.
Friendship without love is merely acquaintanceship.

Love is about sacrifice, says that Internet
while Friendship is about trust.
I’d rather Sam and Frodo than Romeo and Juliet.
Which lasts longer after all? 

The Internet says you don’t lie awake at night thinking about your friends.
I think the internet has never had a friend before.
It doesn’t know what it’s missing.

But I am biased.
Friendship is familiar love.
Romantic love is an unknown.
I can’t help being a bit scared of the unknown.

I have had friendship without love:  it is lonely.
I have had love without friendship:  it is devastating.
I have never had romance:  maybe someday, maybe tomorrow.

The lines between the amour and amitié are blurred.
You can’t have one without the other
and I wouldn’t want to anyway.