The Unseen Cut

A passing remark lands, like a knife’s silent slice,

in the middle of laughter, a debt without price.

We share jokes and secrets, but distance unspools,

like a thread from the fabric, it pulls and it pulls.

The moment a door closes, imprints my mind,

a space left behind, too sudden, unkind.

In the flicker of friendship, a fracture takes shape,

with no one to catch it, like a slip of the tape.

How lightly you tread, unaware of the fall,

a shadow between us, now hanging so small.