Distance

Distance sat in the room like an entity

She had disguised herself as belonging

Pretending to know what she belonged to

Tiny, soft-in-dust rays slid through the high window

In a feathery , soothing mockery of her trying

Trying yet again to feel like she fit in.

Ineptness sat heavily like sodden oatmeal

Clinging to the sides of her, filling her middle

Making it doughy like fresh bread, but there was

A hard, impermeable crust perched on the outer edge.

She had worn this shell in turtle-like fashion for so long

It seemed like she had been born with a covering

Perhaps had been a changeling after all, this substitute

Which sat in typical appearance was really a faery child

Trying to be normal, trying hard to span the distance

Between herself and the others who all spoke with a sameness

A casualness, a “rightness” which she had never been able to mimic.

She sat wondering what it was that made the difference

What had created the forever distance, the detachment…

Inside were pools of warm and bubbling waters, love-drenched

Inside there was a joy-spring of caring and wanting to share

Inside welled the urge to merge and trust and be a part

But humanity loomed like a stranger in the distance.

Maybe it was just too late, too hard to take that step and creep up the stairway

Her heart pounded as she stood on faery toes to look out the upper pane

The paths wound gently from this stone room, down, down towards a pretty river

It flowed into the distance in a dancing, merry gesture that beckoned!

Her heart beat fast, her feet felt slippery, her breath came in tiny gusts

She steadied herself and then she took the stairs... one at a time.

cailin raine