the little red circle in the corner of my screen taunts me.
1, it says. 1.
1 message unopened, 1 message unread.
1 person i thought had gone for good but 1 person
who wrote something more to me anyway.
i don’t know what it is and i am not sure i want to.
1, it says: 1 more chance you thought you’d never have.
how i’ve wished the people i gave up on
would come back to me, and here 1 is, waiting right behind
that 1 unread message, that 1 in the red circle saying
click me, read me, you know you want to know
what i have to say. 1 click, 1 chance.
how fragile hope is, how like spun sugar it is so easily beautiful
and so easily crushed. this 1 and my whole damn chest
is full of it. it taunts me, yes, but it haunts me too.
how long can i wait before i become the 1
that someone else is giving up on?
strange how 1 static figure can change a life like that.
a phone vibrating in hand, a message arriving,
a 1 popping into place.
oh, how a number can be at once a struck match
and a precipice.