lonely people

in the city, of bright lights and dark nights, there are many people

it’s hard to find a seat in a restaurant, an empty park bench to rest your feet, a shop without a queue. it’s hard to walk straight, even; there are crowds of people everywhere, literally streams of people flowing about, washing you helplessly in their wake.

and yet, so many of them are lonely.

[ lonely people: the boy ]

the boy shuts himself up at home, with his computer. “it’s not that I’ve no friends,” he laughs, telling his parents not to worry. “they’re all not free at the moment. it’s nice to loaf at home along sometimes. and the last time I went out so much you complained I was treating the house like a hotel, after all.”

the parents leave him be. he still his has sense of humour, after all, right? he can’t be that off if he’s still funny like that. even though he’s clearly unhappy…

he is very unhappy. he is lonely. and the glowing screen of his monitor represents his only escape…

[ lonely people: the lover ]

how can people in love be lonely?

but let me tell you, it is the people who are in love that are often the most lonely.

think about it. when you are with your other half all’s right with the world.

but when she’s not in heaven, it rapidly begins to look like hell. where once you were whole, you have half, taken from you.

and it’s even worse when she doesn’t know about your feelings.

especially when you’re in love, you see couples everywhere when you’re in love.

unrequited love is the loneliest of all, thinks the lover, as he ambles along on his solitary path, half the man he used to be…

[ lonely people : the uprooted flower ]

home is where the heart is. which is why, after returning from somewhere so far for so long, she should be especially happy, right?

right?

after all, this is her beloved country, after all, and here is her beloved home, where mom is being fussy and naggy and dad is nonchalant, almost as if she never left, and here are her brothers, who are too concerned with themselves anyway, and the dog…

and here are the friends from home. she must be anxious to see them and spend time with them, right? after all, they are her much-treasured friends from before she left, and she used to spend so much time with them, online and offline, and how even now they can’t seem to stop talking to each other over email and blog pages and online messaging…

and this is home, right, where everything is so familiar and she can remember bus routes and street names and directions and places without really remembering everything and where routines have become so instinctive she managed to find her way home despite all the buildings and landmarks and trees being lost…

this is home, right, where the heart is?

so why is it that she doesn’t think about anything but going back?

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