empty chair

Lunch today had an empty chair,
silence where normally there is laughter,
soup for one instead of two.
Thinking time instead of talking,
dark clouds gathering,
the loneliness of absence.
Events, not known, having their impact,
as the pain spills over,
Friendship taking on different hues,
and still the enpty chair.
That these questions would be quiet and rest,
instead of building to a deafening smothering silence.