-- Long Distance, Short Way --

John Herlihy

A long distance can be a short way,

At the beginning endless, at the end breathless.

A long distance can be a tortuous way,

Never-ending, arduous, with haggard arrival.

A long distance can be a long way,

Stars we see from the past, where they lived eons away.

A short distance can be a long way,

The mountains looms before us, but still very far away.

A short distance can be a tortuous way,

Hardship and misery make a short distance a long way.

A short distance can be a short way,

The road moving forward, the true distance but child’s play.

The distance there before us, it is what it is,

The true way drawn from deep inside, as is.

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(c) John Herlihy 25 May 2020