You Missed Me

I was walking with you when I noticed you had let yourself fall out of step. You casually slowed down and I continued and only when I started to wipe at my almost always dry eyes, did I realize why. In you slack you were leaving me to pretend I was not hurting. You were saying with your body what you have never said aloud. All my fears, the building of my forts, the way we slip in and out of our shades- and then It came to me in sudden waves of discomfort. A tear, the tears. By the time you caught up to me, our lives had resumed its shape. A puzzle refitting to let no one notice its missing one piece.