NaPoWriMo 2020 – Day 22: Distanced

Day Twenty-Two, for which the NaPoWriMo.net prompt is to find an idiomatic phrase from a different language or culture, and use it as the jumping-off point for your poem. Something about the Kazakh idiom Сенің арқаңда күн көріп жүрмін (I see the sun on your back) which means “Thank you for being you. I am alive because of your help” seemed particularly apt for the times in which we live. Sourced from this list on the TED Blog.

***
When we –
like two stars
whose arcs just escape
the gentle tug of gravity –
nod as the path squeezes
the distance between us,
I see the sun on your back,
and remember to be grateful
for the things that distance preserves.