Empty Chair
I walk into a room
Leave the chair empty on purpose
It's not broken like you'd assume
Just not where I want to be
I know you walk these halls
Every Tuesday after gym
I would never ignore your calls
But you hit that button with routine
I lower my eyes like I'd dim a lamp
Not to hide but to reduce
His eyes hurt like a cramp
Don't think guys would ever understand
His name settles like dust
Somehow everywhere all of the time
Slowly consuming me like rust
Someday we have to acknowledge it's there
In this hallway the footsteps soften themselves
Shoes learn not to announce their presence
Like dusty books never taken off the shelves
We know we are unwanted here
Memories folded in my jeans back pocket
The jeans you said matched yours
I won't throw them away, I'll forget it
Well until I hear the crinkle when I sit in that chair
The smell of rain that doesn't quite reach me
But I know it's falling somewhere else
That's all that matters, I'll let it be
I miss the cold sharp pain of rain drenching me head to toe
A glance that stops halfway
Like a sentence that knows better than to finish itself
And I stopped telling myself "one day"
Because that last word was never mine to hear
I use silence like punctuation
Some may say it's dramatic
But that's the intonation
Not dramatic, just correct
That chair is in someone's else's favorite spot
I hope it knows that too
She'll be the last car in the parking lot
But I drive the car that may never leave
Copyright © Bella Mehrer | Year Posted 2026
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