Distance

It had been a while.
We met.
And you asked me how I was doing.
A cliché question, one liner.
But the answer?
It could run in paragraphs,
if not pages.
Reluctant, hesitant, where to begin,
I too contained myself,
in a one liner:
the familiar
“Am doing fine” reply,
Anticipating that you would hear more
than what I spoke.
Like always.
Crisp covert answer
to an overt inquest.
Only, you believed me.
The ripe delicacy
with which the silence hung between us;
the superficial small talk;
the raw distance that had grown;
and the sudden,
acute and abrupt realization.

Linking with Thin Spiral Notebook : 100 word challenge : Delicacy