On Salted Air

Like you, the stars look so close even though they are not.
The vapors of my breath float on salted air.
Your skin is salty but I can’t taste it because…
You’re a million miles away, no wait, that’s the stars.

Can you see what I see? Of course you can, just not when I can.
Silence is near but not total as the ship rises against the ice.
It pushes the hull, and you push my mind-- both are relentless.
How can so much meaning be surrounded in so much darkness?

There is a mere continent separating us but time is the illusion.
Hours apart is a man-made delusion to cope with distance.
I now slip into my dreams where I have invited you to be.
That is where it all breaks down; time and distance here on the sea.