Diplomacy

Oh enemy, oh friend, you are
closer than my ear. I dream 
night after night of your face,
larger in the shadows than my own
as we circle one another, two planets
caught in a pas de deux.
For years we have studied one another,
imagining how to strike,
yet in truth, we have not 
come closer than a thought,
flaring our fins like fighting fish,
beautiful in our fury. What if
we break these glass walls? Will we
at last come face to face with ourselves,
hands hanging weaponless at our sides,
armed only with our voices, our human voices?

Credit

Honorable mention in Wick Poetry Center's 2020 Peace Poem contest. © Robbi Nester. Published by the Academy of American Poets on January 28, 2020.