In Between

I live in the place between dreams and reality
Between connection and nonattachment, peace and chaos, heaven and hell
Between the black and the white of the yin yang I walk the curved line fast and slow at the same time
Always with one foot in and one foot out, I am on the outside looking in and the inside looking out
Both the director and the actor of this movie, dancing to the music and watching the dance from the balcony above it
I can fade into the background yet still be front row center
My presence and my absence leave a wake I am told
This space is a no-man’s land
A boundary between the spiritual and the material world like the edge of a city’s park
Where things hold no value except the memories they keep and like everything else, enlightenment is a fleeting phase
Where caring for your fellow person is in your best interests and caring for yourself is in everybody else’s
In this space there are no limits, no set itinerary and nothing is out of the question
Like the words I use to write this poem, this is where the intangible attempts to become tangible and yet there is always room for interpretation
This is the place of translation and I am the translator, learning new languages and dialects to open new worlds to people wherever I go
I live to bear witness to what’s ever in front of me and in this place I can watch it all, for this place is the interval between the first preview and the last credit, between when you enter the subway station and leave out of another, between the first kiss and the last embrace, between your first breath and your last one
It is life, and when it is time for me to longer be here I hope I will walk to the other side with grace, wonder, and the pain of departure just like I did when I entered