Eyes Forward, Don't Think About It

Sometimes, instead of a song, I'll get words stuck in my head. Specific words. They'll just replay themselves over and over. 

And tonight there are three in particular that won't shut up. 

The more they replay themselves (in the voice in which they were originally spoken, no less), the sadder those words make me.

Because the feeling they gave me is gone. 

And as I'm putting one foot in front of the other, 

my brain forcing my eyes to stay straight in front of me, 

the words are abruptly silenced by what's real.

Tossed-back shoulders

An ever-stony gaze, 

straight ahead like mine

Well-worn shoes

And silence

All of which, I'm sure, regard me as the scum of the earth. 

The shoes are perhaps the most heartbreaking, strangely. That scares me.