Hello Old Friend

Ramblings at 2:00am…

Hello old friend

You’ve snuck up on me again this year

arriving cloaked in smog

on a shifting wind

no sunshiny apple cider crisp mornings

that throw me into an unnamed melancholy

like a summer cold

A grey cloud

that doesn’t burn off as the hours shift

This year, the cloud is alien orange

you skulk in the shadows lurking among the viruses

burning in the embers

the never forgotten, forgotten

American flags, memorial t-shirts, media requests

Your mask

hides who you really are

those cornflower blue eyes

downy earlobes

chewing on a thumbnail to think

Mr. Big Pants stride from the bus stop

can’t wait to get home

to me

Pretending to be a day

I want to forget, rush past, eviscerate

But here you are again

Hello, old friend

I’ve missed you