I lay under the midnight stars
And dream of a life I have never known.
I am not sleeping, nor awake
As the coyotes howl in the distance.
Their haunting cry echoes the pain in my heart.
Because I chose the path of loneliness.
They are summoning, perhaps,
Another lone heart to share in their sorrow.
But their union is not a ceremony of mourning.
It is a celebration of mutual and subtle joy.
They have found comfort in each other.
Yet I chose the path of loneliness.
As the two are remembering together
The shadows of their lives are forgotten forever.
The howling dies.
In the silence of the late summer night, another suffering can be heard.
The sound of a human heart breaking.
Because I chose the path of loneliness.
In reality, the sound is but a memory,
It’s shrill tone heard only by me.
Once I loved.
Still I lie beneath the frozen stars
And dream of a life that could have been.
A life of meaning, a life of hope,
A life of knowing who I am.
(Responding to image 3)
THE PATH OF LONELINESS
I lay under the midnight stars
And dream of a life I have never known.
I am not sleeping, nor awake
As the coyotes howl in the distance.
Their haunting cry echoes the pain in my heart.
Because I chose the path of loneliness.
They are summoning, perhaps,
Another lone heart to share in their sorrow.
But their union is not a ceremony of mourning.
It is a celebration of mutual and subtle joy.
They have found comfort in each other.
Yet I chose the path of loneliness.
As the two are remembering together
The shadows of their lives are forgotten forever.
The howling dies.
In the silence of the late summer night, another suffering can be heard.
The sound of a human heart breaking.
Because I chose the path of loneliness.
In reality, the sound is but a memory,
It’s shrill tone heard only by me.
Once I loved.
Still I lie beneath the frozen stars
And dream of a life that could have been.
A life of meaning, a life of hope,
A life of knowing who I am.
But I chose the path of loneliness.