ALONENESS

Watching my dove
sitting alone on her nest
doing what something inside her
moves her to do,
I wonder how she manages it...
the aloneness...
and then the fog lifts
and I know...
She is alive on this earth
just as I am...

When I clear away the cobwebs
and tangles of everyday living,
I understand
that she and I share more
than our address
twice a year when she comes
to lay a couple of eggs
in my hanging basket...
to sit patiently on them
until two more doves
hatch into breathing aliveness,
aloneness...
which isn’t a bad thing.
It’s just the way it is.

Aloneness is not a disease
or a prison sentence undeserved
despite what the advertisers tell us
we must do to escape from it
with flavored lipstick
and sea breeze deodorant.

Abandonment isn’t what happens
when my dove goes off at last
not to return.
It’s what she’s supposed to do.
The chicks get the idea.
Some people never do.