Semi Colon

There are gaps between us...not chasms, oceans, continents

But gaps nevertheless… small and persistent spaces in togetherness.

Not between paragraphs, chapters, not a full blunt stop even…

But a pause between two inter-connected thoughts

Or a moment of silence, no response.

When first we met it was exclamation marks,

buzzes, thrills, trembling which fills

each vessel, makes legs shake with anticipation,

a dot dot dot of suspense, perhaps with a question mark

Or two, but we could take without hesitation, make

Each second a recollection of a living suspenseful moment.

But time changes and so it should, as party shoes gave way to cosy slippers,

and stumbling, fumbling pleasure becomes Sundays of leisure …

And exclamation marks gave way to semi colons.

A hanging dot, an eye and one leg dangling carelessly below

the line, taking its time.

Linking, like a rhyme.

And a gentle nudge away, a cold shoulder all the same, part of the game.

We are close, but perhaps the pauses, once hyphens or tiny breaths of commas have cracked

And solidified into semi-detached living;

Not giving, but taking space, time, a moment to ourselves, gaps on our shelves.

And heart and body and bed slowly gives way to plans, lists and thoughts in head.

That being said, a semi colon

Can also, I’m told, hold ideas which cannot be expressed with only a word.

Deeper thoughts which need to be heard.

So before our lives reach their full stop,

Let’s see if we can hold not only hands, be kissed, but intertwine

A list of feelings, tender moments and memories.

Days we can seize, building bricks which may fix crumbling walls;

Calls to arms, linked and held.

Keep us together in the dark,

Held by this ambiguous punctuation mark.