What is proportional
What is proportional
About representation
Is it a crime
Are we a victim
Of loneliness
Who bears responsibility
For the relief of ennui
How can we evaluate causation
In the correlation
Between tedium and despair
Do we even care
Single people
Of a certain age
Become invisible
To the naked eye
Even when they walk by
They are indistinguishable
From the background
Noise
Peopled by girls and boys
Who barely notice
Old men with
Weather-beaten faces
Grey-haired ladies
With bright red lipstick traces
Overlaying narrowed lips
Pulled tight
From the pain
Of arthritic hips
That once could sway
Back in the day
Even Jack the lad
Has the look of his dad
In a flat cap
Not that you would know
As he barely walks abroad
Unless it’s raining
And he can wear a coat
He bought with his wife
Thirty years ago
In a different life
He feels secure
Wrapped up tight
Against the cold
Even when it is warm
A distinction
More difficult to make
When you are old
So I am told
What are the odds
No one will notice
Something isn’t right
When the sun shines brightly
In the sky
Even on a fine day
In summer
Lonely people die.