The Screen

Between me and you there is a screen

That shows us what cannot be seen,

How you appear and what I perceive

How you think and what I believe.

I see you in a room, body 'neath a face,

Almost lifelike inside flattened space

An assemblage of mind from pixilated lights 

Charged by a million million bytes.

Between us a distance as thin as glass

And thick as questions left unasked,

Something I think I hear you say

Is misconstrued by time delay.

Moved by an urgent need to bond  

I touch the screen, (this kind won't respond)

And for an instant you do feel close

'Til your expression freezes - and they're exposed 

Those gremlins that make resentments rise

When we lose faith in the compromise

On which our love is supposed to work

So easily sabotaged by a technical quirk.

We wait, and wait, and press refresh,

But the spirit has by now departed the flesh,

Disconnected, we simultaneously log out,

Each to his room, wracked with doubt.

Alone with thoughts and sweet memories 

That access passion's energies,

A desire resurfaces for what has been,  

And we seek each other again, through the screen.