This very powerful and moving poem was written by a talented young person at HMP Feltham and reproduced with kind permission - copyright applies (Aug' 2026).
LONELINESS...
Loneliness, you're not such much an enemy as
you were when we first met. I'd be lying
if I said it was love at first sight
because you filled me with despair.
You initially showed me a world where
I didn't matter, or that anything I
did didn't matter, but you slowly made
me realise that being distant would open my eyes.
I get to see people for who they are
so much now I can see them from
afar. You started off as an unknown face
and now you're familiar.
I like the silence I get with you
it allows me to think, it lets me
take a step back so my thoughts
can sink in.
We have our good days and we
have our bad, just like a marriage
that we both never had. We are
together like two strangers sitting on a bench. When the reality is in the
end you are just my friend.