The Terror of Loneliness

It is the stuff of deep-dark-nightmares
the vision of someone you love moving
inexorably away from you, their back
receding, leaving you alone, bereft and
utterly forlorn. This dim scenario of loss
is repeated time and again as a form of
life-rehearsal every time there is a brief
separation, like a rehearsal of death when
we bed ourselves for the night and sleep
temporarily existing on another plane
entirely, our minds asleep, unaware, our
brains busy elsewhere, we no longer in
control. Primitive and primal our deep
seated fears of abandonment when we bid
those we love farewell, wrenched by the
yawning gulf of absence when we are
removed in geographic distance, unable
to reach out and embrace one another
dimly aware that our world is shattering.