All I ask
is for them to be happy
to hear my voice
when I call, even if

I can do
nothing for them
at that moment.
To have my

familiar
but somewhat
unexpected words
charm them,

curl up and nest
in their ears
for a moment
or more. But

it’s a cold call more often
than not now,
a disinvitation by tone
and rushed goodbye.

I am certainly not asking
to be the sole center 
of their life, but
I do want to know

how I became
so much of a nuisance,
how I fell so far
from their grace,

that even the echo
of my voice
from the bottom of 
this hole

is enough
to make them
shy away and leave me
there.