Another You

An orange glow reflects off the pavement from the street lights overhead
The faint smell of fresh linen dryer sheets waft from a nearby apartment vent
The air is cold, the wind whipping my hair across my face so it sticks to my lips
I’ve just gone to take the trash out but yet again my mind thinks of you
I find myself remembering your smile and how your eyes crinkle in the corners
When I’m making my bed, furiously trying to smooth out the mirroring wrinkles
My mind wanders to you when I glance at my calendar, we haven’t spoken since July
You flood my mind at the most inopportune times and it makes me angry
I’ve flushed your memory down the toilet every time I tried to drown out my cries
Yet, there you linger, in the recesses of my mind and haunting my dreams

There’s someone at work that reminds me of you, the resemblance is uncanny
I find myself grinning at my screen when a rare message comes through
And I laugh with him the same way I once laughed with you
And I beat myself up for thinking his friendliness is anything more
Or that my mind is defining him as your replacement, another you
A friend from afar but nothing more