Loneliness

  
Loneliness

Loneliness, oh loneliness, you spawn of isolation,
How many find you empty, bleak, a field of desolation…
   
And few can last for long without some company of sorts,
At very least, the sky above, with all its changing shows,
Or for the ones, who’re blind, the sound of water, wind and life,
The scents and textures of the world, the tastes upon the tongue…
 
Yet some must live within the walls, confined to just a room
That shelters from the elements but also is a prison.

In the city, bustling, full of busy-ness and strife,
Amidst the hustle and the rush, you’ll find the unemployed,
And only they can fully feel the madness of the city,
Where strangers pass without a word, and even in an office,
A working lifetime well may pass with just a “Hi, hello.”

“Goodbye!” we say, in such a way, it’s robbed of all its meaning. \1
Yet only God, for those of faith, is with them as they leave.

Loneliness, oh loneliness, your beauty may be hidden,
But those who look will see it, when that looking is unbidden.
We’re born and live and die alone, amidst the company,
And so to loneliness alone we’re wedded, till the end.

2014 July 23rd, Wed,
Brooklyn, New York
  
1. "God be with you.",  "Allah/bhagwaan tere saath rahe."
    "Khuda hafiz.", etc. were meant to convey a deep emotion.
    The urban "goodbye", is increasingly used, instead, as a 
     dismissal.