Walking along the water's edge,
I imagined your presence.
We walked not hand in hand,
but separate and apart,
yet wrapped in a shared distancing.
Like the stones, the shells,
the drifting sun-brightened clouds,
like two birds upon a wave,
we were together in our apartness,
neither reaching toward each other
nor wishing to move away.
When I see you again,
I will say only that I missed you,
because you were not there.