Discovery
by poetrydiary
You stood out from the crowd only slightly,
and the fear of loneliness came to me
and said “you cannot go”.
You waved, and held your hand to me. I cried,
but said nothing, enveloped in my fear.
The seasons passed us by.
It was warm in the crowd at first, I felt,
and the superficial kindnesses built
some semblance of loving.
Until I discovered the way to love
must pass through loneliness first; that dull fear
destroyed by true lovers.
It’s a long time since you waved, and the space
where you were is lost now, in the cold crowd.
It’s my turn to stand out.
———————-
Submitted to Poets United.
poetry diary 
This poem has so much insight. One of my favorite lines is “the way to love must pass through loneliness first”. Very nice poem!
I like it. Hard to see your own life in words though.
Touching and sensitive to the emotions most can not put into words… beautifully said.
I loved the flow of thoughts but halfway through, I lost the way.
What does standing out imply? And how does that relate to ‘Discovery’?
Your poem made me sad for you. It seemed so full of regret and frustration. I hope that’s what you wanted to convey.
Very insightful poem. Seems to me that it’s about discovering yourself and what you need before you can love someone else. Nicely done.
Thanks for all your comments. The poem is about discovering what love entails, after being held back by fear of the unknown for too long and conforming (in some important ways) by default. It is regretful, yes, because it is easier to stand out and be yourself at 20 than 40, when you are no longer simply an individual and have responsibilities and ties.
Poetry is partly for me a way of imagining how life might have been if I had known then what I know now. This doesn’t mean life now isn’t still wonderful and doesn’t have many virtues (see other poems) but now would be less wonderful if I didn’t have a way to express some of my feelings about the past.
I think it’s maybe a matter of balance..it’s easier to stand out at 20 perhaps..but when you stand out at 40, more worldly wise, more experience, the motivating driver to stand out is different and maybe more significant than at the age of 20 when one is probably more rash and dont think too much about consequences…
reflective,
creative,
loved the word flow.
🙂