Distances - a poem in two parts

{part 1}

{part 2}

Distance is a difficult tongue

hard to learn, like most things after 30

Despite the mispronounced and misunderstood words

I find myself persevering

I take careful notes

of things that convey distance

of things that may lessen them

I find myself measuring the spaces

Between the faithful's forehead

and a prayer mat

Between a teacher's anxiety

and a student's success

Between the change in a schoolboy's pocket

and the samosawalah outside the gates

Between one casual insult

and a well-thought out spite 

Between the mother's breast

and her wailing infant's mouth

Between promises made in good faith

and realities that rendered them false

I learn how to wait

and find ways to ford the distance

between the day we decided it wouldn't work

and today, when we know that nothing else will