Divergent - July 18 2024

 

Divergent

July 18 2024

A few degrees either way

and her intimate whispers

are just as clear

her voice the same.

But not quite in your ear,

and too far

for the hot wet breath

that once so excited you.

Time passes

and distance grows,

but the conversation still flows.

Until you have to raise your voice,

then shout

and strain to hear.

How long

until you’re squinting to make her out

and waving with both arms

depends on speed and trajectory.

Basic physics;

except that now

instead of time slowing

the faster you go, the older you feel.

Because in the universe of human emotion

relativity

is immaterial.

After that, it’s just a matter of time

before she disappears.

And though the attraction somehow persists,

you inevitably hit

the event horizon;

that notional line

where her gravity dies.

Or at least fails to move

the way you once fell.

Which, like the moon around the earth

is simply a matter of mass;

with a far side

you’ve never seen,

phases

that wax and wane

except less predictably.

The same mass

that used to spoon next to yours

(even though“mass”

would be a bad choice of words

for the woman you love!)

Two objects

that begin together

at the same point in space,

but continue

on evers so lightly different paths

will inevitably drift apart.

Two diverging lines

that can’t be reconciled.

Even though

as we learned in physics class

inertia is not a force.

But then

science does not apply

to the human dilemma,

and arguments go on

long past the time

they stopped making sense.

If only we had known

momentum can be broken.

Had only known

we are not acted upon

but are free to act ourselves.

Had only known

that even when atoms are split

in a burst of violent fission,

the force of repulsion

can be overcome.

That with enough work

two particles

   —  even if highly charged

and too much the same for their own good  —

can come together again.

In a rush of heat and light

made whole.