Loneliness, August 2002

Loneliness

A long distance runner’s apology

Traveling alone - people laughing, hugging,

Not husbands and wives burdened with responsibility lugging

But friends, newlyweds, lovers

Affection, excitement, warmth hovers

Sitting alone in a hotel lobby in San Francisco before giving a speech

Watching a longed-for life from my isolated perch

With three or four days alone, the loneliness becomes a friend

At first strange, distant, aloof, and of fear it did portend

After a while a comrade, not such a bad traveling mate

She gives me the space to create,

Which I value most, and always have    

I set on a course a long time ago, as solitary as a fox

The die is cast, and I've become the lonely trip, it has me in a lock

It used to be an unwelcome intruder, then it became me

It gave me fame and wealth, but the cost was love, you see

Like the long distance runner crossing the ribbon, the end of his race The race, entered with reluctance at first, turned me into the runner, the grit, the hurt, the parched mouth and spent soul,

But you, my dear blue ribbon, were the prize at the end of it all.

If I knew of the tender love the ribbon held, then the race would have been fled

Life’s focus was the race; its torment became my daily bread

And how the race made the prize all the more,

Song given to the mute, wings to worm, for a swimmer the shore

The race won, life can now unfold anew

Love rediscovered with an innocence postponed

Not wasted and abused by youth but

Love and passion valued as treasure and prize

Come celebrate with me.