To truly know what loneliness is

you must be stripped bare

down to where no one knows where you are.

To where the only way you can keep going 

is to wear a mask 

while inside you are being burned to nothing.

When no one knows or thinks enough to ask,

when they assume it’s fine 

because it has always been fine.

All the while you are onstage,

putting on a show.

To the point where they will never know,

to the point where it’s normal

and you yourself hardly recognize it.

 

To truly learn the cold empty loneliness,

You must see others overcoming things

worse than your problems.

And then stay quiet and hurt all the more,

you must see them with 

what you long for,

knowing it’s just out of reach,

and then cry alone, without comfort.

 

To truly know the depths of loneliness,

you must first know the heights of happiness.

You must know the fulfillment of people, 

the warmth of togetherness,

and the sweetness of true friends,

the laughter and joy they bring

without fail, every time.

Without these, you are left with loneliness

to hear your cries

and desolate silence in large crowds,

you are left in a pit with no obvious way out.

But, you will find you are not alone,

And that there is a beacon of light 

That burns away the mask,

suddenly that pit is embedded with light.

And you find you are never alone in your sorrow.