Cancelled

i erased her, passively
dismissed her, unknowingly
negated her, unwittingly
i had no desire to make her less
yet from my behaviors she felt diminished
and from diminished, shamed
from shamed to irrelevant
from irrelevant to invisible
from invisible to nonexistent
i simply didn't notice and this
this is the point
someone so close to me
i'd paid no heed
her presence unappreciated
her voice, so small
i should have been listening attentively
obviously i didn't care enough to pause
to hush the noise around me
i know that innocence rarely screams
a whisper the method the naive chose to utilize
if they are brave enough
to place words upon breath at all
and now, at sleepless 2am
the ghost of guilt is haunting me
how will i make amends
will she forgive my disregard
or will she choose to never speak again
once as the gentle mist of morning
now burned away by the rudeness of the sun