At first I was like a moth to the flame.
She entered the room and I was mesmerized.
And while some things remain the same
others have changed.

Where once passion alone seemed to fill my soul
now it is not the passion that is missed.
Now it is the emptiness that consumes me,
and leaves me with thirst unquenchable.

And as our friendship grows again,
and we spend our hours talking,
it only becomes more clear
that she is far from me.

Our paths have take us so far from one another,
that only with the keenest eyes can I make out her form.
And while we physically stand side by side,
to my heart we seem so distant still.

I gaze into her eyes, and uncomfortable she feels.
Why do you judge me so, she asks?
And I wonder why she asks, for judging I was not.
I only gaze across the miles that seem to be between us.

Perhaps she does not feel the distance,
for she may not be as far as I perceive.
What to me seems a years hard march
to her may be as close as a single errant kiss.

I feel her discomfort as I gaze into her eyes,
for she has made promises to another,
of which I can only guess, and I know she will hold true
until they free each other from them.

And when she dares to return the gaze
I wonder what she sees.
Does she still see a heart between two lovers
and wonders how it is that her's can be the stronger.

Does she see a love so strong that
like a forest blaze,
will quickly flash and burn to embers,
leaving nothing but a haze.

Or does she see the truth of it
that through my eyes my heart is found
and in her gaze she sees my love but more,
the a reflection of a love that she still holds for me.

And when she quickly hides her eyes
or turns away from me,
Is it the fear that she has let
her feeling be known to me?

I know that in her heart she feels
that all are safer now.
That as long as we resist the urge
we'll all be spared the pain.

But perhaps that poet long ago was right
and though we know the painful bite of love,
we all offer up our selves to the sparrows beak.
For it is only against the agony
that we may judge the ecstasy.