Distance Poem by Ashutosh Ranjan Tripathy

I counted the days as they dragged on,
And waited very long to grab the chance,
To redeem myself from the lonely world,
And tackle our biggest hurdle-DISTANCE.

I had always heard wise poeple saying,
'Distance makes the heart grow fonder',
But should we always let it stay that way,
Now that's something I always wonder.

I had always waited for the day to come,
When hand in hand, we both would dance,
To look into each others' eyes and smile,
To slowly, someday, kill all the distance.

I sit and recount good old days when,
In corners I waited to steal one glance,
And days when I would walk past you,
Wanting you to smile at me just once.

In all those heart-rending, lonely days,
One single desire I'd always haunted upon,
To close in on the distance between us,
And give way to a bright new dawn.

The miles between us taught me a lot-
To argue less and understand more,
Your texts made me smile on sad days and,
Surprise phone calls were like charms galore.

Distance, I know, is a very tricky thing,
Because sometimes we're close, yet far away,
And again, the vile host tricks us so,
That though near, apart we have to stay.

Distance has made me shed many tears,
While reminiscing our good old days,
But suffering and pain it has to give,
So, in many lives, it stubbornly stays.

Today, I saw you after so many days,
The sight was as precious as it could get,
My face absently had the widest smile,
And my heart was racing hard, I bet.

Next, you turned and looked at me,
Waved your hand and let yourself smile,
The gesture that I had been dying for,
The one I'd been waiting for all this while.

As distance zeroed in, I found my joy,
In standing there and staring at you,
In letting my vision engulf your frame,
As in my stomach, hundred butterflies flew.

That one moment I would never trade,
Even for the world's most choicest things,
Because it was the gift of the same distance,
Which gives as much pain as the joy it brings.