There comes a night,
within which silence
changes perplexion. 
No longer soft with hope,
but hard with truth.
No crickets to chirp.
No cars to roam.
Just a frigid breeze,
Signaling the setting of summer.

Tonight,
this moon does not shine.
and the stars..
They mockingly stare back,
without any hint of
destiny promised.

But I remember.
I remember what was
once
promised to me.

Warmer nights.
Where a couple would ingite love through storm.
With foolish words, forgiving hands and any efforts that their youth could muster.
I have learned however,
that even a flame once fierce,
can gutter in its own smoke.

Tonight is such a Night of No Return.
where I release a name into wind
and no longer chase the answer.
Where you walk your road,
and I walk mine,
and the crossroads we were once meant to embrace upon,
dissolve into dust.