Distance Sets Itself

Distance Sets Itself-Written by R. Smith The spacing didn’t happen in a moment or a break It formed the way a structure shifts when something starts to take A quiet redistribution in the places we once stood, A clearance I stopped fighting when I knew I never should I used to close the gap by leaning further than I’d planned Adjusting every angle just to keep a place to stand But distance has a logic when the weight is pushing in It settles where it settles, where I stop and you begin I don’t resist the drift when the alignment isn’t true, The space becomes the evidence of what we couldn’t hold on to. The distance sets itself when the pressure isn’t shared It widens on its own when the structure isn’t paired I don’t force the spacing just to keep a shape intact I let the room between us show us all the things we lack I measure every offset like a surveyor in the dark The slightest change in posture leaves a delineating mark You can tell what’s shifting long before the break begins The tolerance grows wider where the strain keeps setting in I don’t resist the drift when the alignment isn’t true The space becomes the evidence of what we couldn’t hold on to The distance sets itself when the pressure isn’t shared It widens on its own when the structure isn’t paired I don’t force the spacing just to keep a shape intact I let the room between us show us all the things we lack I’m done reducing clearance just to make the fit seem right I’m done compressing boundaries just to keep something in sight What holds will hold without me bending further than I should The spacing tells the story more precisely than I could The distance sets itself, and I don’t close it anymore I walk the line it leaves me like a measured, settled floor I don’t chase proximity that never learned to stay I move with what is stable and let everything else give way