It’s lonely at the moment

lonely in all the little ways
a smile became a new blue visage
and in came
an un-budging two-meter stretch between
the future

and the present. And
how long can one hope for endings?
the miserable insignificance of endings
if not this, another
if now, later
constancy hanging like a stench
bitter and sardonic
something that
the hopeless anticipation of something better
can’t mask for much longer

there’s agitation in their three tiers
in the queues of panicked shoppers
in the watching through hedges as neighbours clap for the underpaid waiting for a reason to bring in the men in uniform

20 seconds isn’t enough to wash away the loneliness of the bereft and jobless

not even if you sing happy birthday twice