The Estranged Strangers

Strange are the ways of life...
The way the cycle starts....winds and then slowly unwinds itself...

How we had met as strangers...unknown faces in the crowd...and the cycle began....
A forced smile...a handshake...small talk...
From strangers....to acquaintances...
Bumped into here and there...a face familiar now in a crowd of strangers...
Acknowledged with a wave or a smile...partially genuine...
From acquaintances...to friends...
Arranged meetings....pleasant company....slowly but steadily the
number of calls to each other increasing...
No more small talk...rather interesting conversations...
Hobbies discussed...interests matched...
From friends...to best friends...
Testing times....Been through them together....
Company mandatory....no more hobbies discussed....
No more topics required....yet talks lasting days...nights...lifetimes...
From best friends...to one's own reflection....
Silence...shared...silent approvals...silent disapprovals...
Silent company...yet understanding like never before...

And time moved on in its strange way....
And the cycle unwinded...

Lines crossed...the other's presence now overbearing....
Silence...taken now for granted....
Opinions...no longer looked at in the same light....And so...
From one's own reflection....back to best friends....
The road ahead no longer the same...
Paths forked...the mandatory company strangely no longer omnipresent...
Talks touching a level of being impersonal....And so....
From best friends....back to just friends...
Formal topics suddenly remembered...
Met because need to...no longer wanted to....
Meetings growing infrequent....the gaps between each slowly increasing....And so...
From friends...back to acquaintances...
Meetings now through newly acquired common friends...
How have you been...no longer asked out of concern...rather custom....
And then a furtive glance here,nothing to talk,excuse me....And so...
From acquaintances....back to strangers....
Back to an unknown face in the crowd...