a cramped auditorium
with sticky budget seats
a mother holding a baby
ho glares at me
as if to say
why are you
still here?
heads dusted with stage lights
I see him: black suit
warm brown eyes,
the hint of a smile
he has not shown me
for quite some time
fingers moving nimbly
as the chorus swells
time for his solo
a haunted melody
that echoes in my chest
We are dusted with
ethereal stage lights
eager parents &
impatient siblings
I cling to every note
knowing when this song ends
he’ll exit the stage
without seeing me
just carrying that haunted lullaby
that repeats now
in my dreams
a decade later
I lost two of my best friends to music:
the first, marching band practice
with more and more hours carved
for new friends and drills and dreams
so different than mine
the same friend I once imagined
I’d toast on her wedding day
the second, an elegant violin
that sang haunted melodies
lingering reasons why he
could never open up to me
beautiful fractures, then-
silence