in the dredges of evening

i saw your name.

i blink

I blink again.

It did not fade.

i could’ve sworn it wasn’t real

i could’ve sworn it was a dream

yet you greeted me.

it was You.

we hadn’t talked

in the time flown by

our old words withered with age

long forgotten.

you mentioned a band,

told me I 

recommended it to you.

I don’t remember.

we traded spare words,

frivolous in the pleasant way

acquaintances would talk

as if we didn’t meet before then

almost a decade ago.

i find these pleasant words bitter

though for your sake I take them

like children and their medicine.

we did not stay for long

and i was almost relieved,

your pleasant-bitter words

stung me

with their formalities

as if we had not sat alone

together at lunch 

trading secrets

and cards. 

in the dredges of evening

you find me again, alone 

in the dark

laying on a bed that hasn’t changed

like I have.