Silent Parting

The photo slipped

from the pages —

a frozen smile, edges curled

with dust and time.

You laughed,

we were younger,

words easy like rain falling soft.

But silence grew like weeds.

No calls, no reasons,

just a slow dissolve

into different shadows.

Scrolling through empty feeds,

your name a ghost I don’t call.

The smile stays,

framed in fading light,

a distance I never crossed,

a goodbye never spoken,

a friendship boxed in quiet.