Just the One Word

The ask was small, a quiet thing,

a name, a door ajar, no more.

No grand ambition did I bring,

just standing at a common door.

Your eyes, they wouldn't meet my own,

then found them, hard, for just a beat.

That single, solid, spoken 'No',

like pavement underneath my feet.

No reason offered, no kind regret,

just that hard stop, unblinking, cold.

A thing I try now to forget,

but it sticks, a story never told.

It lodged inside, a quiet stone,

where expectation used to gleam.

Leaving me standing, quite alone,

outside your tight and perfect dream.