Passing A Ghost

I passed her on the street last night

For the first time since last September

Her gaze was brief and broken

No longer could she look me in the eye

Or murmur meaningless niceties

She had a new girl on her right arm

But the same man clung to her left arm

His eyes cold and deeply embittered

I couldn’t help but smile to myself

But I felt guilty for my own happiness

To be able to move on and love fully again

The new girl stared at her feet the whole time

No one uttered a word aloud to one another

The silence was deafening

I felt an overwhelming urge to apologize

For bad timing, for lost love, for leaving

For being a fighter instead of a lover

But I couldn’t find it in myself to feel truly sorry

I remembered the last days with them

But I also remember the first days

The late summer night passions

The mid-afternoon movies that we never finished

And the good morning messages we shared

As she looked at me for that split-second

I realized I didn’t love or miss her at all

I only loved and missed the memory of her

And, for the first time

We truly passed each other as strangers