From the Distance
By John Herlihy

Distance offers us a variety of insights to share;
The vantage point of distance makes us aware.
To offer a comprehensive view to a grand totality,
With remote detachment as characteristic tonality.

Distance tends to reduce everything down in size,
Shrinking everything in size without compromise.
While things nearby can be used in ready employ,
Things fade into the distance to become but a toy.

Distant storms are of very little use to nearby fires;
But distant love inevitably our tender heart inspires.
Shadows in the distance I cannot fully comprehend;
But up close, I easily observe the twilight descend.

As initially the ever big becomes the ever smaller,
Turning miniscule in size, as if it were never taller.
As children, everything appears as truly oversized,
Lost amid many knees and ankles as a thing prized.

Distance but a figment of our frayed imagination,
The far-away moon creates an intimate sensation.
Remote stars know nothing of our sense of gravity;
Yet from the distance they fill our hearts with levity.

Distant happiness, distant friends, and distant love,
One of the pair is still missing, there is a lost glove.
Distance yawns and we then fall in, feeling love lost,
In wanting to be there, I know I am not there, at cost.

Distance enrobes the mountains into misty grandeur;
We gaze upon such remote majesty like a shy voyeur.
From the distance, we see the forest, but not the trees;
Heaven lies in the distance that we seek on bent knees.

Sheer distance resurrects memories to appear sweet,
Echoes of a distant harmonica or flute we gladly meet.
We delight in dreams because of their sheer distance;
Reality might seem otherwise with nagging insistence.

I feel as the ant seeking to understand the macrocosm;
When what lies before me is but a baffling microcosm.
A spirit of discovery and hope lies on the distant horizon,
To raise our spirits on high and our self-awareness widen.

The distance of the past will always remain in safe-keeping;
The distance of the future always draws nigh, ever-seeking.
I hear voices, I listen to music, I feel harmony and peace,
All enchanting from the distance, hopefully never to cease.