The Shape Of Loneliness Poem by ashok jadhav

I walked the streets at falling dusk
When windows glowed with borrowed cheer;
So many lives lay close at hand,
Yet none that truly felt me near.
The crowd moved on with hurried eyes,
Each face a world I could not share;
Their voices crossed like passing rain,
Then left me standing unaware.
At night, the room grew wide and still,
The clock spoke loud with measured beat;
My thoughts returned like wandering birds
That found no roof beneath their feet.
I tried to name the hollow ache,
This quiet space no sound could fill;
It was not pain that cried aloud,
But absence learning how to feel.
Yet in that depth, a softer truth
Began to breathe, unseen, unshown:
That loneliness can shape the soul
And teach the strength of standing alone.
For in the hush where none appear,
I met the self I used to flee;
Isolation, stern and slow,
Unlocked a guarded honesty.
So though the night remains long still,
And footsteps fade beyond my sight,
I carry now a gentler peace—
A self made whole by silent light.