My Name Will Grow Wide Like a Tree

Between Strangers Written by Yi Lei Stranger, who can measure the distance between us? Distance is the rumor of a never-before-seen sea. Distance the width of a layer of dust. Maybe we need only strike a match for my world to flicker in your sky, Visible finally, and eye-to-eye. Breachable, finally, the border between us. What if we touched? What then? Would something in us hum an old familiar song? Maybe then our feet would wear a path back and forth between our lives, like houses in neighboring lots. Would you give me what I lack? Your winter coat, Your favorite battered pot? Logic warns: unlikely. History tells me to guard my distance When I pass you on the street, and I obey. But to stumble into you, or you into me Wouldn’t it be sweet? In reality, I keep to myself. You keep to you. We have nothing To rue. So why does remorse rise almost to my brim, And also in you?