Between

They did not name it
when it first began-

only noticed
how the world
shifted slightly

when the other
wasn’t there.

It moved between
their mouths
without asking,

quiet as breath
in cold air,

something that knew
before they did

what it would
take from them.

There were doors
that could not stay open,

windows cut into worlds
that would not close.

They stood at the edge
of something precise

and refused to step back.

So it was not distance
that ended it,

but the shape of it-

it would not follow
where they wanted to go,

but somehow it remained,
like something placed
carefully
and never moved.