Zaida & Ish On Break

they move around each other
two kids on a first date
tentatively pawing the ground
playing with their fingers
talking about prom dates
and problems with boyfriends/girlfriends
always in the third person
they want to talk about each other
but don’t dare
disappointment reigns today
there are commitments
compromises
conflicting circumstances
and something passes away from them
as they stand helplessly watching it go
a word could change it
but the word was needed long ago
too many other words clutter the air
a garden overgrown with weeds
a phone ringing in an empty house
a tree a forest
and no one there to watch it fall
so it falls
it falls
crushing their hopes for each other
you watch though
and sigh remembering
other such situations
while they continue to move about in the stockroom
though not so much from the energy
of the present
but from what’s left of the momentum
of the past
and though they’ll move on to other places
the memory of what almost was
will haunt their nights
a lesson
you want to say
for the next time
but who can think of the next time
when the last time
still hangs in the air