Leviticus

[Verse: E L U C I D]

Aloneness is different from loneliness

Loneliness means you want somebody

Loneliness means you have not planned to stand somewhere with other people gone

Loneliness never has a bright color—perhaps it is grey

Loneliness does not have a lovely sound—it has an under-buzz

Or it does not have sound

When it does not have a sound, I like it least of all

But aloneness is delicious

Sometimes aloneness is delicious

Almost like a red, small apple that is cold

An apple that is small and sweet and round and cold and for just you

Or like loving a pond in summer

There is the soft water, looking a little silver, dark, and kind

You lean most carefully, and you like the single picture there

Rest is under your eyes, and above your eyes

And your brain stops its wrinkles, and is peaceful as a windless pond

You make presents to yourself—presents of clouds and sunshine, and the dandelions that are there

Aloneness is like that

Sometimes

Sometimes, I think it's not possible to alone

You are with you

And pulse and nature keep you company

The little minutes are there, building into hours

The minutes that are the bricks of days and years

I know another aloneness

Within it there is someone, someone to ask and tell

One who is Mary, Willy, John or James or Joan

Whose other name is love