Long Distance

Please

Accept this picture –

Of these cupcakes I’m baking

This beer that I’m drinking,

Those geese in my courtyard –

In exchange for a hug,

 Or a smile stolen,

 Across a crowded room.

Wait,

For the house to go quiet

So that we can talk

Across five thousand and ninety four miles

 of silence.

Skype. Gtalk. Facebook Gmail.

I know your schedule –

And you know mine:

Secretaries

Of each other’s lives.

But we struggle

To make sense of our thoughts,

Feelings and aches

In each other’s absence.

I talk

To strangers in a bar.

You,

To strangers from your past.

“Seeing someone?”

They ask

We smile.

Goodnight. Good morning.

 Good morning. Good night.