when alone is not lonely

when alone is not lonely

 

 

 

i live just on the outskirts

of love,

blocks of likely sentiment

smiles, hugs,

winks

goodbyes till next time

 

my heart is unguarded

never locked

the solitude is safe enough

it's a short trip to passion

a hand to hold

lips to mingle

 

i live just on the outskirts

of love,

can almost see it from my blushed window

can hear it calling sometimes

i am tempted to take that short drive

 

but then, my quiet heart

opts

to close the blinds on the day

shield from the lights that call

 

open my can of seclusion

and take a welcome sip.

 

 

erin-cilberto

3/5/2020

Reviews

[Gypsy Warrior Queen]

This requires a kiss blown from across the room to put in your shirt pocket for safekeeping. Thanks for the share J.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

aw thanks, Queenie....i have no pocket in my T-shirt, but i will roll up my sleeve and hold there...just like in the old days when we put a pack of cigs there.
j.

[Wanda Vergara-Yates]

We all need our "alone time" so we can be at our best for together time. Well written, as always.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you, Wanda,
j.

[emmajoy]

Your final couplet is a masterpiece, j . But, perhaps might not go along with the word, 'Cheers' .

Having attenti ve ears available to hear the every day, arms to hold the every night.. and more.. that's where sharing and need m atter in relationships. Times some need m ore than their fair share, rightly, wrong ly. Times come/go questions asked, answers misunderstood. But seems to me that cho ice coems into everything. Sad however when the choices made are not yours. So sad, j.

Choice to give and share life is a heart and h ead led need.. however, yes?

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind review, em.
as insightful as ever.
j.

[John the Baptist]

Sounds like a case of once bitten, twice shy. On the other hand, solitude can be a welcome alternative to the upheavals of passion. Probably best to wait until the bite marks heal before taking that drive.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your words, John,
j.

[Rania M]

In quiet moments I love listening to the beat of my own heart fill my ears. I can fill myself with myself. Yes sir, I am enough. And if I must share this precious solitude with someone then he must come close to loving me as I love myself. Thanks for this poem. ❤️

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i love your philosophy, Rania...it has taken me years and much experience with compromising to have love in order to learn...we just need ourselves to be happy.
j.

[Rania M]

Yes we do.

[Gee]

Never ever been or felt lonely but felt truly alone both in hearing mum had passed and then again at her funeral, even though there were many gathered.
Quite like my own company for short periods but I grow bored of myself and need folk to pester.
Good morning Jacob, hope all is well stateside

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i am still lonely for my folks, so i hear ya on that one.
but i can rest comfortably in my solitude and hope you are able to get there as well.
time does not maybe heal wounds, but maybe lets them be less infected.
j.

[Poetic Beauty]

Living on the outskirts of love sounds like someone who has been done wrong and doesn’t want to get close again.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you, Poetic Beauty....
j.

[Annette Pisano-Higley]

Living on the “outskirts of love” is like living on the edge of a river.. Do we want or need to take the dramatic plunge? Or maybe it’s better to stay “safely” on land.. Jacob you raise a very thought-provoking point here. Alone and lonely are two very different things. As long as your heart is “unguarded”, you can always make a prison-break whenever ‘alone’ becomes too forbidding a jailer...

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i like your insights, especially your last line philosophy...thank you, Annette,
j.

[barleygirl]

This is me, exactly . . . 98% of the time, loneliness never enters the picture, but when it does, I snap to my old patterns & expectations, dumb romantic scenarios that only heaped a wheelbarrow of grief & too late now to try again & blow another wad of heartwaves on it! Your poem best conveys how tempting it can be, feeling so close, but so far . . . (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie

[jacob erin-cilberto]

yes, no need to blow a wad of heartwaves...ever...
we can miss love, but do we really need it? we have to answer that question individually...we are all wired differently.
j.

[Ted Kniffen]

Some are able to handle being alone and others can't abide their loneliness for a second. I have always been one of those who was comfortable alone...the thing is being able to open up to those who want to come in, if even for just a moment...to spread a little cheer or maybe even a bit of love.

There is a difference between alone and lonely...I suppose it's a matter of being comfortable in your own skin.
For me, a good book has always been the remedy for those bouts of loneliness.

A good write j.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

and if we are comfortable in our aloneness.....
then we open up as we want, not as we need.read moreand if we are comfortable in our aloneness.....
then we open up as we want, not as we need.
and yes, on that good book...
i am constantly immersed in one...
thank you,Ted,
for allowing my words in.
j.

[Ted Kniffen]

Maybe the true trick is the ability to stand 'outside' to look in...or maybe that is what makes a writer.