And Then Understand What Loneliness Is.... Poem by RIC BASTASA

i read your poem
slowly as though i am
digesting steak inside
my mouth
savoring every taste
every delight.

it is contemporary
and sophisticated as you
used words which i
perhaps first met and thus
cannot grasp the meaning
without having to bother
the dictionary.

you think that people
are amazed with what they
could not understand.
it is your style.

i used to do it to amaze
myself and everyone but i
changed since then.

at one moment in my life
i went to the mountain to travel
all alone by myself.
i sleep on the grass and gaze
at the stars.
at night when it rains i get
wet and shiver.
in the morning i go to the river
to bathe and just be naked.

it is here where everything
reveals itself with all simplicity
and nakedness.
no props, no words, no dictionary
no second thoughts.

it is here where i see birds
flying away from me and then
i understand what loneliness is.
it is beautiful. It is silent.
It does not speak at all.
But everything is there and well
understood, well meant.