The Lonely Soul

The days go by with little to distinguish one from another

The gray of morning slides silently into the gray of night

The morning light shines outside, not in here, not in this place

The warmth of life is outside their reach, shadows fall across the face

Mechanically days turn to weeks, weeks to months, months to years

Cavernous emptiness, dull numbing pain, life of the condemned

Hollow eyes reach out to an unfriendly world, fear the unwelcome companion

Eyes cast low so as not to be seen, shame rides heavy upon the shoulders

Castaways in the middle of the crowd, unknown and unfound

The eyes that you catch only a glimpse of before they dart quickly away

They often move with a limp or an awkward gait, disabled in their soul

They shuffle along their way, mostly unrecognized, mostly unseen

Hearing but never being heard, they hover on the edge of existence

Mumble when spoken to and rarely spoken at all, the words of the alone

Life seems to come and go everyday without their having been invited

People pass them on the street, but barely notice the sad broken figures

Unknown, unfound souls adrift among the living, slumping and heavy

Slipping along and slipping away, untouched by humankind, alone