BORN ALONE [ Diana Raab, PhD ]

The first day each of my children
stepped into school, I sat at the kitchen counter

sipping coffee and staring at the wall clock
awaiting pickup hour.

How could they have grown so fast?
How could they not need me anymore?
How could all these things happen so quickly?

Being needed didn’t seem as important then,
yet now during my seventieth year,
it’s more important than ever.

Now in their own parenting roles
they’re needed each waking moment,
as I battle relentless loneliness.

Nobody warned me 
of this normal part of aging.
I thought being lonely 
was only for the mean-spirited.

We learn so much as we age:
we learn what’s important 
and what we can let go of,
like my white dog 

who grew old with me,
but he is no more.
Yesterday he journeyed 
to rainbow bridge.

He’s gone and I realize 
how we all die alone,
just like we arrived.

Alone.