Distance (the terrible fear of being close.)

I keep my distance

Because out here

I can breathe the clear air

Here I find a freedom

That all too quickly disappears

When we are close

As I feel the restless beating of my heart

Marking out the time

And the deep spaces between loss

Filled with so very much

That is hard to speak of

So if I stay this way away

I pray you understand

There will be a time for me one day

To come close

And hold your hand

When I fear the dam

Holding all of this grief

Will not obliterate the land

For what will happen if we both drown

And amidst the deluge

There will only be bodies

Found

Disinterred remains

Of all of that sorrow and pain

We witnessed on this journey

Through our lives

But I can never take out the knife

And cut away

For to do would be to impede the flow

Between you and me

That leads to truth

So I can only wait and pray

Out here in the plain air

To find a way to withstand

This terrible fear

Of being close