“Loneliness Is”

When you are in your own home,

And feel you are a stranger.

When you are with your own family,

But they do not recognize you.

When you are surrounded by your loved ones,

Instead you see strange faces.

When you are thirsty for love,

With no one there to indulge you.

When your family needs your love,

Yet you are in a coma,  incapable of giving it.

When you have always loved your parents,

But now that they are gone, you realize that you had not told them so.

When your family leaves you for good,

And here you thought they were the only friends you had.

When things that were beautiful, only yesterday,

Seem sadly repulsive today.

When, in earnest, you share with someone something you read,

They look at you with disbelief, for the interruption.

When there are tears in your eyes,

And no one cares why that is so.

When you think you are so important in the make-up of this world,

And you sober up to the fact—you are nothing to the rest of the world.

When you spend your day indulging in self-pity,

And you know, you wasted one more precious day of your life.

When you eagerly hold the brush to paint,

And something in you snaps ”What is there to paint?”

When you realize the end is not too far away,

And only in a second the totality of your past life flashes by.