Are they lonely? Are they cold?
Do they get bored on their own?
Do they make up things for themselves to do?
Just to feel alive, perhaps to get through.
Have they talked with another adult today?
Do they feel forgotten or a little less known?
Do they cook for one almost every day
and the TV tray is their chaperone?
With no family to welcome for the holidays
Or know when to sing a birthday song
Is the world a big empty space for them
Left with the choices that made them alone.
I wonder so often as I cook for six
day in and day out so many problems to fix
Four children to raise and all my days
swirl noise, snacks, snuggled cheek kisses
How lucky am I and how very warm
to call all these people my very own
It is not lost on me, sweet neighbor of mine
What I have, what you don’t, and what inner twines
Us is a friendship that came out so odd, only God
For he sets the lonely in families, He prods
Us forward to continue together, a prick of my heart soft like a feather
And so I ask, won’t you come over for your birthday dinner?
Yes my hands are full, my days are a tizzy
Can I add any more to the conversations so dizzy?
Running here and running there, empty from work.
The fights, the resolutions and well… the meat might be burnt.
But.
Open the door and come right in
we have little to offer, except for our grins
So partake, in our company and in our life
May others jump in…
Do you have a neighbor that is lonely within?
Jenna Alissa Schroeder 