The Space Between

The space between us, was once warm, but now cools.
Yet to me, the space once between us remains intimate.
We’ve backed away, the space between us advanced.
We stood to-to-toe, however, I missed you.
It felt as if there were a thousand miles between us.

I needed more than to merely make love to you.
I needed our skin to touch, to stroke each other every moment.
I ache to feel your quickening heartbeat against my chest.
To once more feel your loving response to my touches.
If our breath could mingle, I would want to continue to live.

My heart is an open book - its’ pages easily torn.
It hangs like an oppressive stone against my breast.
My heart does not beat invulnerably as it once did.
Now lonely, it knows no sunshine.
It flees the warmth, it fights the comfort.
If love would approach, my heart would recoil.

My skin feels no caresses and cries for affection.
My face holds no smile, no twinkle lights my eyes.
When you touched my cheek, lifted my chin to our eyes met,
You would kiss me sweetly lingering and slow, I could not reason.
I crave the assurance of love and will surely dry to dust without it.

Laughter twists every fiber of my being.
Sounds of joy once resonant and strong, are muted and muffled.
The weight of my anguish seems too torturous to bear.
I hunger for someone to hold me and rock me like a child.
A child who’s lonely cries need quelled by loving hands.
A child who yearns for attention and affection.

Should I make believe I’ve never been hurt by another?
Should I make believe I’ve only known heaven?