The lonely.
Next time you’ll notice them,
when you’re at the grocery store.
They’ll be the ones with twelve items or less
at the self check-out.
Scanning tv dinners and gallons upon gallons
of ice cream to drown their sorrows in.
They’ll use the large soup spoon like a shovel
to consume more and more of the
comforting creaminess of cookie dough ice cream.
But the ice cream will also
vanish,
leaving them lonely again.
The lonely will be up watching late night tv-
Alone, solo, unaccompanied, single.
They’re the people who make reservations for
one
and sit alone at fancy restaurants.
They buy
one
ticket at the movies and
have no one to hold hands or argue with,
because people leave.
They die.
They drive far away.
They never come back,
and sometimes It’s your fault.
So don’t push people away,
hold them close.
Don’t start fights,
because nobody may end them-
And then you could notice yourself,
becoming part of
The lonely.