Disposable Friendships

People, like water, are fluid
they come and go
you cup your hands
and try to hold
the flow
between your palms
but it seeps out
and drips down
in a trickle,
emptying out until not a drop is left
leaving your hands damp
and empty.
The water bleeds from your
hands like blood,
the cool air drying them
stiff
until they crack
break the water lines
that once held a cool, wet stream.
People come and go
they are there laughing
and talking one day
and the next they are gone,
dried up, distant
pulling away until they leave no trace behind.

~~~

Keep your pack on your back

and be ready to leave at a moment's notice.

You see expressions change

from minute to minute

so small you might miss it

but it is there,

you feel it

you sense it

pulling away

drifting away

there,

and then

gone

and you know

it's time to go,

you've done this before

you know the drill

all safety hatches in place.

Three, two, one,

it's time

go go go!

you do what you have to do

leaving no trace behind

that you were ever even there.

He's gone,

and so are you.