Love, A Lovelorn Dreamer

When everyone is turning in for sleeping,

And lights are dimming all across the town,

I’m here among the people with a light still on,

Thinking of the day,

Remembering the smiles,

Reflecting carefully as I lay down.

When everyone around has long been sleeping,

Blankets pulled up high under their chins,

I’m here among the people who are just nodding off,

Hoping for tomorrow,

Wondering the meaning,

And finally drifting off as day begins.

And in my dreams, I feel the victories,

And the failures and the hopes and the insecurities

Of the people who brushed by,

Or stopped to say hello,

When everything was moving fast

And everyone was celebrating…

And I see the loneliness,

And I see the look of lovelorn longing,

From the people who, just like islands,

Long for ships to come and touch them,

To settle there and listen on the shore…

And then I find I love them even more.

When everyone is waking up and stretching,

Yawning so their mouths and arms are open wide,

I’m here among the people who are still within their dreams,

Watching all the colors,

And all the hands and faces,

Reaching for the ties to each that must be found inside.

And I know I’m not the only lonely one…

Everywhere I look, I expect to find another;

And I know I’m not the only heavy-laden heart,

And I hope for all the lonesome souls

to someday hold each other.

For I’m among those who know the others by kind;

The man who’s on his earpiece making demands all the time,

The woman who warmly asks the cashier what’s on her mind,

The one who blesses the jar with a tip and shuffles meekly off the line;

He who commandeers the lonesome away,

She who charitably shares the burden of time,

Those who humbly offer an act of goodwill for the sake of being kind.

When everyone is turning in, or sleeping,

Or warily starting off their day,

My heart is heavy with love for them all,

Tinged with melancholy shades of blue.

And though everyone around has long been lonely,

I’m among those who reach out and say,

“I’m here, and you know me, at least by kind;

For I feel it, too."