(Poem) Distance

Eye contact. You see
her
standing in the distance,
waiting.
Eye contact. You
feel it. A
pull, something. You feel it telling you,

Go.

You go. Then you stop.
Distance. Like
mud stuck to the bottom of your feet, like
you’re waterlogged, you feel
distance. You can’t
move. You
stand your ground. Are you
standing your ground? Aren’t you just
afraid?

Go.

You can’t.
She looks at you, but
you just can’t
move the way you used to. Instead, you hear
a sigh. She gets up
and you watch as she walks away
briskly
with footsteps as light as feathers.

Go.

And you finally go
the other way.