Shadows of Yesterday

It was just yesterday, or so it seems,

When strangers crossed the bridge of dreams.

In fleeting glances, trust was sown,

A fragile thread, a seed unknown.

Their words were soft, their smiles sincere,

A bond was built, or so I’d hear.

Acquaintances now, from strangers’ guise,

But behind their masks, a web of lies.

A whisper here, a stolen glance,

The truth unraveled in a chance.

Deception crept where trust once lay,

Turning warmth to cold decay.

I saw their shadows twist and shift,

Promises given, then cruelly adrift.

Each handshake carried the weight of doubt,

Each word a door that locked me out.

Yesterday’s betrayal still stains today,

A wound that time won’t wash away.

The disbelief clings, a bitter hue,

In every face, I now see untrue.

What binds the heart to trust again?

When even the sun can hide in rain.

Yet strangers come, and strangers go,

Leaving echoes of what I’ll never know.

I carry their ghosts, their half-meant cheer,

A constant whisper I always hear.

And though the bridge is burned and bare,

Its ashes linger in the air.