Prelude to Loss

It begins quietly.

A name misplace.

A pause too long.

The light shifts,

and something familiar 

no longer fits.

Before the forgetting,

there is a moment.

A glance that doesn't land.

A story retold.

With one detail missing.

This zone holds those first fractures.

subtle, tender.

and irreversible.

Not yet loss.

but the echo of its arrival.