alone

mail piles up
like all the words
we never said
to each other
bills demanding payment
for a life
already paid in full

this is how we disappear:
not in earthquakes
or accidents
but in the quiet spaces
between hello
and goodbye

the loneliest sound
is not silence
it's the sound
of life continuing
around an empty space
where a person used to be

and no one
noticing
the difference