In a sea of smiling faces,

I am the masked one, I drift,

A solitary leaf on the wind,

A lone heartbeat in the void.

Voices buzz like distant bees,

Their hum a backdrop to my solitude.

Loneliness slithers into me, nesting,

Creating a new home for itself.

Eyes flicker past, fleeting glances,

Like moments grasped and then released,

I am a shadow in the noonday sun,

Oh, but even shadows have companions.

Numbness wraps around me, a cloak,

Stitched with invisible threads of sorrow,

I nod, I smile, as people speak,

Pretending to understand the muffled sounds.