The Seeming Space

The seeming space 

between us aches,

filled with longings

loneliness, regret,

a sense of distance

to overcome~

all attempts

at joining fail

to permanently

close the gap,

this yawning void

between "you" and "me,"

the solitary sense

that I am this body

and you are that one,

over there,

and we are 

each

to our own

alone.

 

The world too

seems

a thing apart

and we upon it

every solitary creature

standing separate

unalterably so

as if by some

cruel fate

all in proximity

disconnected,

afraid.

 

What is born

must die.

 

Yet the space

we imagine

between us empty,

perhaps is full as

our hearts 

overflowing

for a lover

or a child.

 

The palpable texture

of that "space,"

the irrefutable sense

of one being one

may be more real,

wrap you more perfectly,

than bone-anchored

sinews,

collagenous ropes

and silvery sheets,

the sails and rigging

to navigate within.

 

Nobody can be

lost at sea

when the ocean

is within you~

What if?

 

What if

the space we imagine

between us quiet

rings out resonant

to our beating hearts

life plucking strings,

cords echoing

the first sound,

the subtle substance

of that space,

waves weaving us

together,

one fabric

clothing all.

 

Perhaps the so-called

parts, fitted together

this to that

form a machine

of our mind's

making only

and the truth lies

not in the words

and actions

that divide, dissect

and separate, but

in the seeming space,

the teeming space

between those bits

and pieces,

in the tissues 

that continue,

envelope,

connect and relate.

 

It's in that subtle space

between the two

where we find 

the proof that 

we are one,

and can only

be so,

mirrored there

as we are

in our flesh

inseparable

and whole.

(from The Seeming Space, p.54, by Gil Hedley, 2021)