Walking through the desert of loneliness
wading through sands of solitude
stay upright against a burning sun
for oases spring unexpectedly
offering fresh water and dates
for your destiny. Be brave and replenished.

Watch out for rattlesnakes rats and
scorpions-creatures of the cold night
that sense your feeble steps
and win you over with their vast predatory skills
magic in their mouths
blood mixed with venom and soft words.
Their skills have crystallised
over millions of years
hunting for the lost and lonely wanderer.

Stay strong at the waters edge
where lurk people with crocodile skin
clawed feet and long forked tongues
to **** your sapping spirit
to garnish their own feasting. Stay strong.

At the outer circles
when you crawl out from your loneliness
reach out for the ones that stood
scimitars drawn and headhigh
to scythe through  the wraggle of followers-on
who journeyed a step behind your
mountains of misery, wanting you to fall
under dunes of destruction.

At the journeys end look back at the stars
that sparkled in the nighttime of your dreams
and navigated you through  the pathways of pain
to a welcoming circle of friends.

Kia kaha. Stay strong forever
You are now a child of the universe.

Author Notes

Loneliness is the most fearful of all human emotion. Everyone gets caught in this desert storm once or twice in their lives. It is a painful place and the thousands of poems on this site is a testimony to what destruction it causes.


Yet there is hope to those who seek it. One step at a time you can reach that oasis where the water is blue and the date palms replenish your wounded spirit. Look out for the doomsayers. Theres lots of them around.


The final outcome is a journey back home.
© Marshall Gass. All rights reserved.