Keep Moving

(The Sighting & The Flashback)

Seven years have passed, I’ve moved, changed my address,

Then I saw the ghost of my past life standing by the ingress,

At the store, right by the register, no less,

Took a minute for the memory to fully coalesce,

My first roommate, we knew each other since grade school,

But don't get it twisted, we never followed the same rule,

We shared a lease, we shared a key, but never trust or heart,

We were only associates, that’s where the separation starts,

He was a chapter I deliberately closed off and sealed it,

Like a broken contract, a feeling I had concealed it

( The Toxicity & The Reason)

The reason we parted? He decided to get loud and disrespectful,

Crossed a line that made me keeping my distance seem more respectable,

See, that’s what he was known for, crossing lines and breaking trust,

The kind of man who turned every promise back to dust,

He came pre-packaged, a walking liability, nothing but trouble,

The only reliable thing was watching the good times crumple,

Disrespecting women in his life, that was his default setting,

His family and his friends? Constantly forgetting the value of loyalty, the price of integrity,

He lived for the drama, chasing the sheer complexity,

The only thing you could depend on him for was a funny joke, a tale,

To lighten up the wreckage, to cover up the fail.

( Maturity & Resolution)

I’m too grown for all that noise, I finished that curriculum,

My patience for chaos is gone, I reached my minimum,

I dealt with the foolishness, the immaturity, the spite,

Now my peace is protected, my vision is crystal clear and bright,

I’m glad to report that he looked relatively healthy,

A little heavier, maybe, looked happy, even wealthy,

And God knows, I wish him well, I hope he found his own lane and sped up,

Hope he mended the bridges that I watched him tear and bled up,

But that’s where the sentiment ends, right here in the street light,

No need for a handshake, no need to relive the fight,

No need for a call, no need for the "what you been doing?" talk,

He’s a mile behind me, and I’m steady on my walk.

Seven years is a lifetime, that gap I have to maintain,

He stays in the past tense, I’m focused on the present terrain,

The past is a lesson, not a recurring guest, 

Glad you're good, Now keep moving...