Amidst the shadows

I try to reach

or even to grope.

Just for one moment

of a touch,

of a tingle.

In the darkness

Can't make out the distance.

And to deny

the impossibility of proximity

drives yearning to the brink of desperation.

So in the blackness of space

I try to reach

Not knowing how far,

not knowing

that there's no one there.

June 2000