Please, don’t come any closer
I cannot stand the thought of watching you vanish
Whether it be to wind, or to heat,
Or to my own mortal limitation
I know it sounds ridiculous
But I am terrified that this time, the separation will undo me
Despite the other countless times that it hasn’t
And the innumerable times that it won’t
It’s just that right now, in this moment,
It is all that I can know, and all that I can feel
So I cherish it as much as I fear it
And want for it either to be forever or to never be
Please, come no closer
The inevitability of all of this
Only further embitters my watching of it
Please, stay right there, in that gray sky, with the rest of yourself
benjam1@stolaf.edu
