We were boys
Who only had screens
And the promise
Of other bad Fridays
With milestones marked
By an innocence
That followed us back
After long –

Where clutched controls
Traded hands
For that touch unknown
By our fantasies
As imagined girls
Entered basements
To attempt one round
Sitting close,

Until stages paused
Never saved
From faded rays
Ever lonely
Like those future fears
Feeling permanent
When hearing your voice
Echo still

Over sharpened light
Burning silence
Through thin dust on air
Trailing windows
Sit below what ground
Tracing footsteps
Coming down those stairs
While I pray.

Some nights bring tears
Playing games
Wasted weekends there
Can remember
Twenty years might call
Blessed friendship
Or this love unsaid
Cannot load –

Between buttons mashed
Losing lives
How reality leaves
Little imprints
Across empty rugs
Wishing resets
Weren’t always fast
Growing up.

• J. Pigno