“Pooh reached out and gently patted Eeyore’s head.

‘It’s all right, Eeyore,’ he said softly.

‘You don’t have to be cheerful today. You don’t have to be anything but you.

Because being you is quite enough, and I rather like you just that way.’

Eeyore gave a long sigh and stared at the flowers,

not sure if he believed it, but grateful all the same.

‘It’s hard,’ he murmured, ‘when the clouds won’t lift.’

Pooh nodded thoughtfully, as if he understood.

‘That’s why I’m here,’ he whispered,

‘to sit with you until the clouds pass… or until we notice together

that the flowers were blooming all along.’

And so they sat, not needing to fix or change a thing,

just letting the quiet hum of the forest wrap around them.

And in that moment, Eeyore realized

that sometimes the kindest thing in the world

is simply a friend who stays.”