Of Fences And Distances Poem by Cheryl L. DaytecYañgot

I told you often. Long ago I learned
Distance is not measured by the meters
Of space from one estate to another
Rather by the height of the fence
Or the thickness of the walls
Or the presence or absence of barbed wires
Between
Or the silence in the space midway

Take South Korea and North Korea for example
Hands in the same kimchi jar, joined
Like Siamese twins standing head-to-head
Yet split by an ideological fence
Far wider than the distance between
South Africa and Greenland

There are the godly states of Israel and Palestine
Separated by a security wall no thicker than
the eddy of fog clouding my despairing mind
The same womb bore their people. I wonder,
did it conceive the immense chasm between
them that even God seems unable to bridge?
They row their boats to opposite directions
With plans to remove the other from the map

Closer, here we are
Sharing the same room
Sleeping in the same bed
Separated by distance
A formidable fence between