An Ode to Loneliness

“You have taken my companions and loved ones from me; the darkness is my closest friend.”

Not exactly the kind of sentiment you’d expect to find in the bible. Especially not in a book accustomed to exultations, praises and altogether positive vibes. Psalm 88:18 doesn’t come across as hyperbole to us even if its metaphor of loneliness lives long in the memory.

Loneliness is a feeling we are all too familiar with. It punctures our heart before yanking it out, and tossing it, like any normal Mortal Kombat character would. Far from being the gift that keeps on giving, it is the penalty that keeps on penalizing. Not content with deflating us, it disembowels us to a hollowed-out version of ourselves.

Loneliness may not be as excruciating as physical pain, but it is every bit enfeebling. It sucker punches the life of us, knocking us off our cocksure stride. Not only do we slump to the canvas, we prostrate on it. The sinking feeling that it is, roots us to the spot.

Loneliness is defiance that second-guesses itself. Loneliness is the activist too shy to explode in protest. Caught between a lofty expectation of friendship and a sobering reality of isolation, our muddled-up minds are barely able to conjure up a coherent explanation. How can they? They are stunned into silence.

Most of all, loneliness makes us dejected. Loneliness is a serial killer that drowns our enthusiasm, suffocates our joy, decapitates our attempts to make meaningful connections. Oh loneliness, you are the death of us.