I have perceiv'd that to be with those I like is enough,
but what does one do when there is no one to be with?
To stop in company with the rest of evening is enough,
but loneliness is just enough for me.

To pass among them or touch anyone,
or rest my arm ever so slightly around
his or her neck for a moment,
what is this, then?

It is absolutely nothing to me.

I do not ask more delight, I swim in it as in the sea.
I crave nothing more than my own company.

There is something in staying close to
men and woman and looking on them,
that lures some but I am immune,
and in the odor of them that pleases the soul well,
 but not my soul.

-Laura McDonald


Back to Student Work

Work reprinted with student permission