One Kind Word

Were I awaiting one kind word from you,
Were our relationship my life's whole aim,
Then should I weep, not hearing my own name
When you were asked to whom you had been true.
I waited for your smile, some sort of clue
That something still existed I could claim –
At least an ember, though I see no flame –
A glimpse of your hands, or a disused shoe.

The days have passed so slowly, nights have been
So dark, each minute clings to what has passed
As if what was first never will be last.
We know things change; that's something we have seen
While waiting for a kind word. Did you mean
The distance now between us is not vast?