Loneliness Poem by Francis Duggan

I asked the question of old Betty Jo
What's loneliness she said she wouldn't know
You well might say I've known a better day
Still I feel happy though my hair is gray.

In the early sixties a deserted wife
Still loneliness played no part in her life
And though left to raise her children on her own
You'll hear her say 'I've never felt alone'.

Yet Mick a young man only twenty five
Is one who doesn't feel glad to be alive
In human company he seems so out of place
He always has that sad look on his face.

The bug of loneliness has bit him bad
He's always on his own and looking sad
Yet those who know of his life story say
That he has no reason for to feel this way.

With good and loving parents fortune on him smiled
And he did not have siblings he was raised an only child
But a good upbringing never can guarantee
One of a happy life of care and worry free.

Quite unlike Betty to loneliness he's prone
And the value of friendship he's never known
He's always been so lonely and so shy
And the best years of his life he can't enjoy.

Of loneliness I thought that she might know
So I asked the question of old Betty Jo
Have you ever felt lonely? she smiled and shook her head
Can't say that I have ever had she said.