To dance a million dances,
to sing a thousand songs,
to laugh and cry in places
in which I don’t belong, 
I force polite smiles to creatures
that warrant my distaste, 
but I still show up,
I do the work
and put on my best face,

but behind the row of houses
and buildings that touch the sky,
I often sit at river edges
and begin to ponder why,
why my best friends have branches
and my enemies have hands,
why my soulmate speaks in whispers
and grows upon the land,

why currents swirl like little dancers
whirling down the stream,
why the last time my feet touched water
was merely in a dream,
why mallard ducks sit distanced
perching on the rocks,
and of course it’s human nature
that wedges as it knocks

the trees they do not discriminate
even when out of line,
they’re the only friendship that I have found
that stands the test of time,
the leaves do not hold grudges
as they allow themselves to grow,
they do their duty, they say ‘goodbye’
and once again ‘hello’,

when asked if I am lonely
as I spend my time alone,
I am comforted every day
by the things that I’ve never known,
I have found my peace inside myself
and that in which I know,
And more so in the things I don’t,
aware that they’re soon to show,

I find my friends in the soil
that caress my feet below,
not in the pubs with strangers
whose stories are of woe,
and if that makes me lonely
and distanced from this world,
I remember I was closer to the earth
when I was once a lonely little girl.