Fading Footprints

Once, we walked together side by side,

Our laughter echoed,

wide and bright,

In shared dreams and secrets confide,

Our bond a beacon in the night.

But time, a thief with quiet hands,

Steals moments we believed would stay,

And drifts us far from once-known lands,

Where friendship’s light began to sway.

I reach into the empty air,

For echoes of a voice once near,

But find instead a hollow stare,

A silence sharp, a growing fear.

The calls grow fewer,

words grow thin,

Like autumn leaves that fall and fade,

The warmth that once was held within

Now lost beneath a cold cascade.

I wonder when the shift began

The subtle turn, the quiet slide,

When I became a passing plan

A name forgotten, brushed aside.

Did I not laugh the way I used?

Or speak in tones no longer heard?

Or did my absence just amuse,

A ghost within their crowded world?

The photos smile from distant days,

Frozen moments, bright and clear,

Now framed by time’s relentless haze,

Reminders of a vanished cheer.

I’m left to walk these empty halls,

Where friendship’s echoes fade and die,

To hear the silence as it calls,

A whispered, unanswered sigh.

Yet in this void, I find a spark

A truth beneath the pain and loss,

That self-worth shines beyond the dark,

Unbound by friendships’ fragile gloss.

For though the world may turn away,

And those once close may drift apart,

The heart can learn to light its way,

And heal the ache within the heart.

So I will cherish what remains

The lessons, love, and memories dear,

And build anew from broken chains,

A strength that conquers doubt and fear.

Though forgotten by some friends’ hands,

I am not lost, nor cast aside,

For in my soul, a fire stands

A light that time cannot divide.

And maybe, someday, paths will cross,

Old bonds rekindled,

hearts made whole,

But till that time, I bear no loss

For I am friend to my own soul.