Screen Glow

Fingers slick with screen-grease,

I scrolled past faces, a fleeting haze.

Then your smile, my old mentor,

caught me in a kind of daze.

At the reunion, five years back,

a chance I'd neatly missed.

My stomach knotted, a sudden attack,

a truth I now couldn't resist.

I was 'too busy,' said I had a lot

on my plate, some deadline, some dead-end task.

Now I see what I forgot,

behind that tired, busy mask.

You were there, bright, full of grace,

and I was home, watching the dust motes gleam.

A pixelated smile on your face,

a faded, almost bitter dream.

It hits me now, this cold, hard light,

a sudden click, too late to mend.

The opportunity, sharp and bright,

a good, solid thought, my stubborn friend.

The wisdom I could have learned,

the path I might have walked instead.

The chances lost, the lessons burned

into the empty space inside my head.