Turning up the Heat— Alone

Alone

 

I spend most of my time alone

Walking to routine places

 

Looking at countless people

No one I know or will ever meet

 

Not that I don’t want to speak

It’s just too strange to greet

 

Maybe I have become too weak

Battling judgments, feeling incomplete

 

Only seeing appearances

Making up stories

 

That scar, those deep forehead-

Lines, their teeth

 

Sometimes even their clothes

The way some fabric is stressed

 

Colors, patterns, what they carry-

and the shoes that carry them

 

Their covers are worn and beaten

Surrounded by insecurities

 

A thick invisible shield

Pushing each other out

 

The knowledge they could hold

Opportunities they may bring

 

The potential so great

Yet I avoid them every day

 

I have lost or maybe never had-

The ability to walk a different path

 

To speak to others, connect

With the unfamiliar