Can miles truly separate you from friends . . . If you want to be with someone you love, aren't you already there?

Bach’s line challenges the ordinary, geographic idea of separation by proposing that intimacy is sustained as much by attention and inner presence as by physical proximity. The rhetorical questions imply that friendship and love are not merely spatial relationships but states of mind: memory, imagination, and ongoing care can make someone feel “with you” even at a distance. The quote also carries a gently spiritual or metaphysical undertone typical of Bach’s work, suggesting that connection is rooted in consciousness rather than location. Its significance lies in reframing absence as a test of perception—inviting readers to treat love as something actively inhabited, not passively lost when miles intervene.