Reminiscent

Craving pinches of your warmth Is sitting in a movie theater alone. It’s the alien, yet peaceful feeling of contentment Integrated with heart-wrenching forsakenness. The screen flickers with borrowed lives, Settling over vacant seats lovers finding one another in the span of two hours as tens of strangers lean toward the same light. The comfort is borrowed. The ache is mine. They breathe in unison, grieve on cue, laugh at the same precise second as if someone had reached inside us and found the hidden wire connecting each chest. But when the credits begin to crawl, the spell loosens. People gather their jackets, their conversations, the small gravity they exert upon one another. I remain seated until the final name disappears, watching the blank screen glow faintly, like a window left illuminated for someone who was never coming.