Different Measures

I swear it must have been
while laying
there in the dark like that,
just listening to her breathing ..
Maybe an inch
or so out of reach perhaps ..
Yet by no means more
than a single outstretched
arm away ..
When it dawned on me that
time and distance
were both quite distinctly
different measures
and I realised before then ..
Everything else
had been nothing but a sham ..
and I would likely be
content to lay there waiting
for cancer ..
Or indeed, another magnificent
heart attack before
finally being prised away from her ..