1Earthling

First few weeks felt unfamiliar.
Phone calls home, then quiet again.
Same four walls each night around them.
Traffic drifting through the dark.

Someone asked if they were coming
down to dinner with the rest.
Plastic chairs around the kitchen.
Faces slowly settling in.

Nobody stayed around forever.
People drifted room to room.
Some were studying for futures.
Others just passing through.

Late night talks around the kitchen.
Different towns, different plans.
For a while, they built a scaffold,
support for who they’d each become.

Same two people sat together
most lectures through the week.
One saved seats beside the window.
The other shared their notes.

Coffee cups between the classes.
Walking back through city streets.
Names and faces growing familiar,
till the place began to shift.

Nobody stayed around forever.
People drifted room to room.
Some were studying for futures.
Others just passing through.

Late night talks around the kitchen.
Different towns, different plans.
For a while, they built a scaffold,
support for who they’d each become.

Someone moved away by winter.
Another took their empty room.
Boxes stacked beside the doorway,
then gone again by Sunday noon.

People drifted in beside them,
then disappeared the same way too.
Still, for a while, they held each other
steady while life moved through.

Nobody stayed around forever.
People drifted room to room.
Some were studying for futures.
Others just passing through.

Late night talks around the kitchen.
Different towns, different plans.
For a while, they built a scaffold,
support for who they’d each become.