THE JOY OF LONELINESS

THE JOY OF LONELINESS

“I am so lonely. So very lonely,” she said.“Nothing can help me!No person. No substance. No experience.

Everything offers only brief respite.Then I quickly plunge back into my loneliness.Unable to be reached. Unable to be helped.

On a tiny planet spinning in infinite night,I am lonesome. I feel far from wherever other things are.I have not been able to delete this feeling.

It has been with me since the beginning of time.But then, I tell myself, let me turn towards this desolation.Let me no longer be ashamed or frightened of my alienation.

Let me own it, hold it close.Let me cry out into the clear air:I AM LONELY!I AM LONELY!I AM LONELY!Let me hear the power in my own voice.Let my song reverberate throughout the whole damn world.

Let all my lonely brothers and sisters hear:I AM LONELY!I AM LONELY!I AM LONELY!And then, in my loneliness, I am not alone.In my desolation, I am together with everyone.Separate, but never apart.Divided, but indivisible, from the sun, the sea, the sky.

For there is dignity in my loneliness, I realise.It is so alive. So present.It keeps me close to my humility.And reminds me of miracles.No. I do not want to lose my loneliness.I want to be lonely for the rest of my days.Lonely like the oceans. Lonely like a supernova.Love me, then, but do not take away my loneliness!”.And she taught me so much about love's.

- Jeff Foster