He stood at the crosswalk
watching the light change
three times.
Each cycle, pedestrians
passed him in clusters —
brief warmth, then gone.
He wasn't waiting for
anyone. He just needed
the world to keep moving
around him while he
figured out if he still
knew how to move with
it.
The fourth green light,
he stepped forward. One
foot, then the other.
Not because he had a
destination. Because
standing still had started
to feel like a decision
he was no longer allowed
to make.