Distance

They ask me “Are you safe? How far away are you from it all?”

The answer is like sand in my mouth.

How can I ever be close enough to brothers and sisters trapped, murdered, dying?

How can I ever be far enough away from the horror and the images seared into my mind?

How can I ever be safe, at any distance, when the distance never stops the hate?

How can I ever come close to expressing what I feel?

I am too close to ever be the same.

And I am too distant to ever know their pain.