Ghost

So, you want to learn to disappear?

You first must become a listening ear.

They’ll cry on your shoulder and go on their way,

And never ask if you need their time of day.

Step two is to fade, become one with the scene,

Slip out of their lives before they’re first to leave

Be vacantly happy, and smile on occasion,

Get used to the gnawing of social starvation.

Be the one to take photos, they never remember,

Watch their thoughts of you fade like a flickering ember.

Your warm touch on their lives will cool over the years,

And your laugh like a whisper of dust in their ears.

The third and next step is to weave up the loose ends,

Accept that closure won’t happen with childhood friends.

Weave the threads into sheets, soft and white as a cloud,

But as heavy as grief, it’s your funeral shroud .

Step four is to say all your silent goodbyes,

Cry the tears that you need to then mop up your eyes.

Pour a glass for the friend that you were, raise a toast

For the one you became, a blurred, living ghost.