I knew I should have called.

It has been too long since we’d spoken
and friendship is a two-way street
one I hadn’t gone down
in too long a time.
I’d been hitching on that road
taking the trip when others would be paying for gas
– except that ruins the metaphor,
so I didn’t do that at all.

The point is I didn’t call.
I let the quiet overtake us
so that if I did call
it would seem strange
out of character
like I wanted something
would have to have some excuse lined up to rationalize the whole thing.
I couldn’t come up with anything that would justify the whole rigamarole.

So no contact.
No word.

I had no idea what was going on in your life
no sense which television shows you were watching
no clue if you knew what shrewd errors John Oates was making in his career.

I was out of touch
and out of time.

Thank you, then,
for picking up the phone
and setting some of it to rights.