A Lifetime of Loneliness

There once lived a shy girl.
Betty Brown was her name.
She inhabited her own world.
The life she knew was a shame.

She traveled through life all alone,
with loneliness her constant companion.
True friendship remained unknown.
Between her and others lay a canyon,

a canyon carved by lack of confidence.
From contact, she continually withdrew.
Her conversation being without eloquence,
her innermost thoughts no one ever knew.

A flower that never blossomed, she remained
a watcher of life who secretly longed to join
the activities of others but always abstained.
All her courage her shyness would purloin.

Behind walls of isolation in a world of sterile,
unemotional safety she spent all her days.
To let anyone in would her comfort imperil;
thus she retreated into an unwelcoming maze.

Betty lived an existence hidden and bleak.
No one, not neighbor nor co-worker, ever
broke through her isolation, inside to peek.
Betty became an unsolved mystery forever.

Now that she is dead, her wasted life is mourned.
Others regret not getting to know Betty Brown,
realizing how her life they might have adorned.
Alas, many Betty Brown’s populate every town.

ASIN: 1411629272	Gilleland Poetry: Storoems and Poems     Product Type: Book
	List Price: $ 18.96          Amazon's Price: $ 18.96	Buy Now!