The Quiet Vanish

She was there—then not.

Across the street, laughter spilled

like something too bright to catch.

Sunlight caught her hair—

a halo I couldn’t reach,

and she turned away without a word,

like the door closing softly behind me.

I stood still, the shadow holding me

while she stepped into a different frame,

a picture I wasn’t in.

No goodbye,

just absence filling the space

where our voices used to meet.