The Cure for Loneliness
Is solitude
American poet Marianne Moore, who won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1951, once wrote:
The cure for loneliness is solitude.
It’s the sort of line one must read again, and again, to let the meaning emerge from the words and soak into the soul.
We usually think that if we’re feeling lonely it’s time to put on our dancing shoes, paste a big, bright clown smile on our face, hit the road and find a party to crash. But Moore is saying that if you’re lonely you need to keep being by yourself — until you are content being by yourself.
Sometimes we choose to be alone, but we don’t feel lonely. Maybe the kids have been particularly noisy, or work has been demanding, so we shut ourselves in our room, or head off to walk a stretch of sandy beach or a quiet suburban street.
But sometimes life forces us to be alone and that’s when we can become lonely.
Perhaps friends move away, or we move to a new town, or we become sick, or we retire and lose daily contact with others, or we lose a life partner. That’s when loneliness can settle on us like a heavy blanket and blot out the sun.
If any of these things happen to you, your friendly GP may prescribe pills, but Moore recommends you stay with that…
