My Constant Companion Poem by cahen thrips

Into my life walks a new companion;
a composed woman, perhaps a little shy -
when visitors call unexpectedly
she shrinks into a corner and hides
but emerges again when they depart
to vine herself around my heart.

Sometimes she's gaily dressed in
coloured ribbons and frocks, bringing
me a smile; or perhaps a dressing gown,
neither demure nor out-to-shock, but
knowing that while she's closer to me
I become more of what I'm destined to be.

At my table we share evening meals;
we clear away afterwards, cleaning
dishes together, and I talk too much
until she reveals, her body leaning on me,
it's time for bed, then once more
I'm suffused by her as I was once before.

She doesn't love me any more than I love her;
though her company is all I have and but
for her unremitting presence I would
have nothing at all to break this quietus.
She calls me her special oneness;
I call her by her name: Loneliness.

February 2023