Leave a Beep After the Message
Jordan A. Masters

Light the match
Burn the bridge
Turn around
Watch it crumble

A smile, a joke
A note passed between friends
In an instant, gone
Lost in the flicker of the match

March outside, unflattering robes
Rain, rainbow, tossed caps, tossed words
Pride in each other, pride for the future
Packing, leaving, barely a whispered goodbye

Ring, ring, ten times, voicemail
“Leave a beep after the message”
The old joke, but no laugh now
Where are you? What are you doing?

I miss my friend, miss hanging out
Miss laughing, talking, sleeping over
Want to chat about life, past, present, future
Good times, bad times, indifferent…

Emails unanswered, calls not returned
Never online…where did you go?
Have you become too good for me?
Have they turned your head on me?

But no – you were always too smart for that.

Ten years – reunion, I see you
Alone, no company, not talking
What happened to you?
Where did your friends go?

Alienated, alone, you turned away
Turned your back on your home
You thought you were too good for us
Then you were showed the truth…

Not from money, not from wealth
Your new crowd turned away
Forced home, you found no one
Your old crowd turned away too

And I stood there, my hands in my pockets
Staring at the ground, not wanting to speak
I looked at you, tears in my eyes
“I told you so” and walked away

Friends forever, BFF
Friends till the end, never to part
What happened to your promise?
Do you remember that?

But no – they turned your head. I thought you were smarter than that.