Coded Messages

Each of us lives a life
of solitude, islands
separated from each other
by the sea.

Our words are like flashing
lights, coded messages sent
across the spaces between us,
attempts, however feeble,
to connect.

Language is the glue
that holds us together,
the way we create stories
and poems to overcome
the distance,
which disappears
in an instant--
the moment we hear
one word,
then another.

Each word is like
a hand reaching
across the water,
a light dispersing
the darkness
and silence
of solitude,

a message
telling us this:
you are not alone.