Guest Post: Alone By Choice

My mom and I have a lot in common, including the fact that we're both writers and both lived in New York during our mid-twenties.

Here's a poem she wrote 32 years ago, which perfectly describes my feelings about the current state of my love life.

Thanks for sharing, mommy!

A.B.C.

Alone by choice
On a Sunday afternoon. What to do?
So much to choose from -
It's hard to move.

Met another man with smiling eyes.
How long 'till I find a smile that's mine?
Until then, just the thought that I might
Will occupy my mind.
Maybe a day and a night.

But what of the stretches,
Weeks at a time,
No love in sight.
No thought to hold?

It's not all bad! Make new friends,
Stay in touch with the old, you
Can't find what you don't want - strings of gold.

Don't have it, want it.
Get it, lose it.
Shifting desires based on availability.
To be happy with oneself is the only tranquility.

How long till I find a smile that's mine?
I guess it's written in the sky.
The twinkle is always brightest
In a new man's eye.

Caren Roberts
7/17/78