• After years of being happy
    Following years of sadness
    I see the old acquaintance Death
    Greeting me as an elder relative would
    Asking how I’ve been
    Saying he must be off
    Taking a quick party favor
    For the road
    The soul of my companion
    The only thing keeping my here

    I was not blind to the foreshadowing
    Not deaf to the subtle hints
    Not prepared for the heartbreak
    Of a soul mate leaving early
    No road to return on
    A one way street for the dead
    That some call the end
    Others a new beginning
    All I think of this road
    Is how I dread treading it alone

    I am not important
    And I am not needy
    And I do not try to change people
    And I do not push beliefs on others
    But I see now how we are all alone
    And I see why people are hunted
    And I see why people die
    And I see who represents themselves
    And who represents the community
    And who represents people they don’t know
    And who imparts wisdom they know nothing about

    And I wonder who I represent

    If no one understands me
    I do not represent the Lonely Man
    If no one sees my culture in me
    I represent not my neighbors
    If people see no one from anywhere in me
    I cannot represent them either

    If I am defined by my troupe
    By the companion that is now gone
    Than I am truly no one
    And cannot be the Lonely Man
    I am the body
    The empty vessel
    For my soul left for the road
    Chasing after my companion
    Wishing to avoid being the Lonely Man

    The one who avoids others
    Who stays in his room after school
    Who writes on computers
    Instead of doing something with himself
    Who writes a poem to justify loneliness
    To say it’s okay to be this lonely
    So lonely
    That his soul is missing
    That his heart is only an organ
    That the true Lonely Man is here
    On a computer screen
    Presenting himself as a normal person
    Pixels into words that mean something
    A incorporeal entity no finger may touch
    No identity

    The only Lonely Man
    Isn’t a man
    Isn’t a ideal
    Isn’t thought
    Is only a dot
    Surrounded by other dots
    Asking if he’s okay
    Asking if he’s feeling well.
    Asking for help
    For a hand up
    For human interaction
    For love
    For kindness
    For too much

    Ask a dot with no center to fulfill your life
    Ask for them to listen to your grief
    Your all-important issues
    The dot is okay
    The dot will listen
    The dot will nod patently
    The dot will cry himself to sleep
    The dot will die alone
    A true Lonely Man
    So lonely
    It has not even itself for company

    o