It’s when we are near—
in the same room or
closer still, say, sitting
side by side—that I miss you
most. When we’re truly
apart, it’s okay, expected,
to feel afar. In our separation,
there’s the bond of both
missing and being missed.
It creates proximity where
there isn’t any.
But in person, our borderlands
are blaring. We share space,
which is actually just emptiness
we make a little less empty
for just a little while.
It takes no thought, no feeling, no
actual presence of mind, meaning we
can be there without really being there,
which is all we’ve become good for.
Walter Savage