i now walk through life as a ghost,

unnoticed and invisible,

another fatality of seclusion

i’m not dead

just melting away.

L

O

N

E

L

Y

my mind shrieks for stimulation outside of education

to talk to someone

the prospect of friendship seems

chimerical at best.

i keep telling them all to leave me alone.

the back of my mind cries out

DON’T LEAVE ME ALONE!

frantically, i outrun my desperation to connect

all alone again.

i’m safer this way,

an unspoken schism between me

and the rest of humanity.

i try to justify it to myself,

to make excuses for myself.

you’re too uncouth

too bad at reading people

too easily used

Too you.

as i reach the end of my rope,

as i near the edge of my sanity

Four words flash in my sight

DON’T LEAVE ME ALONE!

a shriek

fermenting inside my diaphragm

threatens to shatter my visage of jocularity

shaking,

i weep instead of scream.

my soul,

starved of the sustenance that my soul craves

as i walk away,

i melt away

and remain

L

O

N

E

L

Y.