Ode to Loneliness

Loneliness you are a bland draught;
I have made myself drunk with you
these four years,


Loneliness you drain the color of Earth;
I am now drowned in your flaxen haze
dry of tears,


Loneliness the world is sludge in my hands;
I am your beggar shambling in the mud
of seventeen years,


Loneliness you reek of stale second courses;
I have found no solace from your olfactory reminder
of unshared beer,


Loneliness you ring in my ears even now;
I am quivering with the painful song of your pipes
harmonic with my peers,


Loneliness you plague me unwanted
though well invited,
I shall shatter your withered embrace
and be free in a warm embrasure.