A Little Distance

The day I came to know too much
about the world
it fell into silence

Life, I realized
was nothing more than a lake
made of countless, tiny moments 

Love
when you try to hold it
slips away at once
leaving behind only
a delicate, transparent shadow 

Happiness
Once, now and then, a moment
glimmers by the window
as a matchstick that flares suddenly
and dies out just as fast 

After that understanding
I did not step away
from the world

I stepped away
from myself
just a little.

Image © Varala Anand