grow fonder, or so is said,
but I’ve learned it as distance
makes the heart forget us–

the equation is miles plus
time equals a greater radius,
as between words dangling

on a phone line, or inflections
slung from mouths through
the atmosphere onto a satellite,

far removed from its origin,
home now absolute zero, cosmos
cold and steel, this floating coffin

a language of longing, your voice
massaging my eardrums through
silence

(originally published in Academy of the Heart and Mind, Fall 2019)