Nice of you to parse sparse words with
such precision.
I’ll give you this, but never that.
I wish you this
but can’t and won’t revisit that,
please understand.

You’ll do for me, you write, what you’d
do for any
other. But I am not any
other. I am
the one not free to contact you
like others can.

I am the one held hostage by
your refusal
to forgive unnamed harm, recent
harsh reminder:
not a friend, I’m not deserving
of your mercy.

As if I needed reminding
I am no more
than another former colleague
and no less than
somebody insignificant,
irrelevant.

Give me this much credit: that I
remember you
every minute of every day.
There’s no need to
say I’m of no consequence; I
already know.

Did you think I would read between
parallel lines
that equate me with distant lands
when we both live
here between tropics of Cancer
and Capricorn?