I still see the boy in the baggy trousers playing in the sand,
With a rubber ball in one hand, and in the other my tiny hand.
‘Hold hands so that you don’t lose each other,’ Mum screams from the gate.
The four-toothed grin of my favourite playmate.

I still see the boy with the ‘lucky’ green wrist band,
Who crossed the street with me on the first day of school- hand in hand.
And tugged at my neat pigtails from the bench behind me,
The mischievous smile of a schoolboy- so carefree.

I still see the boy with the bow tie, standing six feet tall,
Who held my hand as we made our way across the resplendent hall.
We danced and swayed till the clock declared it time to part,
The dreamy, flirtatious smile of a high school sweetheart.

Now, I see the man in the turquoise suit so grand,
As man and wife they leave the church; he gently holds her hand.
‘…hold hands so that you don’t lose each other,’
The desolate smile of a helpless narrator.

The death of a mother, the departure of a father
A new family sans laughter-not a murmur.
Her ‘favourite’ food, polite dinner conversation.
Plunged into an ocean of fake likes.

Crushed dreams; words unsaid she kept,
Feelings and thoughts under a rug of misery swept.
Almond eyes so deep- they drowned seas.
Swimming in an ocean of fake likes.

Quiet prayers and hopes, tears never set free.
A mother’s gentle kiss now a distant memory.
‘It’s just the way I like it, Miss Lily.’ Cue polite smile.
Floating in an ocean of fake likes.

Head held a little too high, a tired smile on her face.
Pretty as a picture, not a hair out of place.
A facade so strongly rehearsed, yet so weak.
Drowning in an ocean of fake likes.

I figured
I'm going to stop
messaging you first
because I know
if I wasn't saying "hi"
we wouldn't be talking