The Echo of Emptiness

People need people.

Sometimes I feel so alone,
it seems something hollow echoes in my chest, on the left side—
like earth scorched by April heat!

As if I'm lying three and a half feet under the soil
alone—
no one anywhere.

The universe has fallen still—
no songs left on earth,
no flowers,
no one anywhere.
Inside my chest, the ache of countless hammers.

Sometimes I feel terribly alone!
Alone like death!
I want to hold you tight against my chest and weep—
here, right here, touch and see.
Here it hurts so much!

Can one human being truly touch another, ever?
It feels like a million years have passed
and no one has ever touched me!

I want to run into your arms.
Touch me, love me tenderly just once and say—
you are not alone.

Trees, birds, poetry, movies—
nothing helps,
a person needs their very own person.

Be that person for me,
let all this anguish shelter against your ribs,
let all this weariness fall away in your kiss!