When loneliness comes stalking

“When loneliness comes stalking, go into the fields, consider the orderliness of the world.”   -Mary Oliver

When loneliness comes stalking, I wait. I welcome it. I look in its face. I leave room in my heart. It comes stalking like a striped tiger through the tall grass.

That is not so bad. If you are okay with being pounced on, and becoming part of the earth again. Burning bright at night, it stalks me. Dimly, during the day, it stalks me. It comes from within, and without. It is part of the whole.

When it comes, it comes as a reminder. A reminder that I am not alone. It proves the paradox. It ushers in all the people who have gone before; all the other ones who have been stalked by loneliness. We are all here together. Even alone, we are together.

When it comes stalking, I am ready. I am well stocked with books, and maps, a compass, and a telescope to look at the stars. And then I remember that I am stardust, too.

When loneliness comes stalking I think about my beloved. Loneliness has stalked him, too. And when we meet we will know that we found each other in the depth of our loneliness. Before we met, we knew each other. Because we dwelled within.

We trusted loneliness, when it came stalking.

And we found its truth, deep in our bones.

We found the freedom in it.

We heard the voices that sang in it, through the ages.

We held hands in it.

We loved. We discovered that love exists there, before you know anyone. Before you love anyone.

When loneliness came stalking us, like a bright tiger in the night,

It made us laugh deeply. It only made us come alive that much more.

When it came stalking us, we were ready. We were already together. We had outwitted it. Or it had already outwitted us. It sheltered us, showing us that it was not real. We let go.

And then, after a bottle of wine, shared -

We saw the northern lights, dancing, switching across the sky.

We saw the moon slowly changing places with the sun.

We saw the stars coming out one by one.