The Marvelous Endurance of Loneliness

We are used to so many
People always everywhere
In our world, it’s hard for us

To reshape our memories
Far enough to imagine
How lonely speech used to be.

We project known loneliness
Of solitary lives spent
In cities, towns, and suburbs,

Which is real, which is aching,
To imagine loneliness
As an ache of emptiness

In a world of few people—
Few anywhere, few beyond
Our circle, our anxious fire,

Horizons without people
At all, just the spectacle
Of the night skies’ gleaming eyes.

It’s impossible. We can’t
More than fumble at the hem
Of such an experience.

Still, it’s weirdly marvelous,
In our over-peopled world,
How well we know loneliness.