Familiar Strangers

been a long time, so far away, their smile hollow, mirth shallow, they try, but they're no longer one, well, so he thinks, and so does she; they fidget, they anticipate, strangers now to their own silence, awkward, silently embarrassed by what they feel as urgent need to just say or mumble something, just anything at all to burst this bubble, to fill this vacuum of overstretched anxiety; something's just not there anymore, blown away by the winds of years, wonder what to do or say next, then goodbye, then a feigned regret and promises to keep in touch that they both know they'll never keep, but for now, farewell is relief, from the ache of strangers' unease !