Left Alone
By John Herlihy

Sometimes, I only wish to be left alone;
Alone, I said, with no one and I mean no one around.
If you think about it, we live our lives in fulsome crowds.
When I prefer to be by myself in generous puff clouds.
Free of the enticing temptations and all the elusive lies,
Free of the superficial niceties and all the emotional ties,
I have given pieces of myself away far too many times.
Little by little, there is very little left between the lines;
There are always people out there willing enough to take.
Con men (and women) preying on others always on the make;
You feel good about yourself in giving things away to others.
Liberation arises in a world filled with sisters and brothers;
But a moment in time finally arrives when the veil is lifted.
You have nothing left to give, nothing left there to be sifted.
There is a feeling about you that recalls the aridity of the desert,
In the company of a few lazy lizards with nothing much to assert.
And you realize, ya, I can be alone, by myself, happy in solitude,
Without the miseries that others bring with their false solicitude.
Give me an empty cup so I have something there for the filling;
Leave me alone so I can replenish myself with spirit, God willing.