Loneliness Poem by Mary Champion

I remained detached throughout the ceremony.
Had they been asked to name my mood,
they would doubtless have judged it tranquil.
How little they knew.
This was stagnation, not serenity.
For years I had wandered in the wilderness
through a life made stale by loneliness.
Then fate dictated that we should meet.
Like drowning men, grasping at straws
we clung to each other in desperate pretence.

Sunlight, scattered by the fountain's spray,
made kaleidoscopic patterns on the whitewashed walls -
delicate jewels in euphoric dance.
But as we took our vows,
I looked into your eyes and saw that they mirrored
the blankness in my own.
A vision of our future congealed in my mind -
long, empty years shackled by loneliness.