A Space Between Poem by Barry Middleton

There is no need
to feel the flame
to know
that there is heat.

There is no need
to touch the sea
or put it to my lips
to know its briny nature.

I know great mysteries
by the merest hint.

Life and death
are close companions
separated only by sensation.

I cannot see the roots
of my beginning.

I cannot smell
the smoke of autumn.

Yet I am acquainted
with a space between
as a man of middle years
knows young children
and old dogs.