On Lonliness

Across the valley
stood a tall, wizened willow.
It drooped to the ground,
branches brushing the
velvety grass.

In this tree
sang a lonely robin.
It did not twitter away happily
as its brothers,
but piped melancholy tunes for its friend.

The notes that left
the robin's throat
were carried about with the wind
and drifted to the ears
of all the lonely beings.

Those that heard
the robin's song
wept with pearly tears of understanding
and gladness, endowed with the knowledge
of another empathetic creature.

When the robin sang no more
great mourning spread across the land
and those that heard retreated
back into their shelters
while the willow withered silently away.