The one who left the call unanswered

Across the street,

you laugh like a stranger

in the warm light of the café window.

I stop, the glass splits our silence—

your back to me, friends closing in.

Years dissolve in the crackle of your voice

I no longer hear.

I want to bridge the space, but the call

is a ghost I never made.

The sidewalk folds beneath my steps,

empty as the number I never dialed.

I walk on,

the weight of a friendship gone

settling like dusk.