Fleeting

Phantom promise,
Etched in air,
A whispered declaration,
Barely heard,
Quickly discarded.

Like smoke dissolving
Into nothing,
I chased the trace,
Ephemeral,
Elusive.

A mirage of hope,
Feathers scattered
By the wind,
Slipping through
My fingertips.

I clung to the echo,
Trying to decipher
Its meaning,
But the words
Melted away.

Promised futures crumbled,
Fading
Into distant memories,
Wrapped
In the cloak of time.

Resigned
To the phantom's realm,
I dance in its ethereal shadow,
A wistful echo
Of that forgotten vow.

No foundation
To stand upon,
Except the haunting echoes,
Of a promise
Never fulfilled.

Yet still,
I find comfort,
In the ghost
Of what could have been,
Though it slips away,
A phantom.

Even empty promises,
Carry fragments
Of possibility,
And in those remnants,
I find beauty.