Tribute to Solitude - Poem

A reflection on solitude as a guide, not an exile — and the slow walk back to who we are.

There are words we don’t write to explain.
We write them to acknowledge something that has been with us longer than we knew how to name.

This poem is not a praise of isolation.
It is a recognition.

Of a presence that stayed when noise failed.
Of a space that did not save me from life — but taught me how to face it.

Here is a quiet tribute.

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Tribute to Solitude

Raised, grown in the current,
Lost, suffocated by the madness of people.
Drama, dysfunctional families—
Shame, sadness… children pushed to the edge.

I was alone, without being alone.
You never truly left me alone.
Your silences, louder than people’s screams,
Like a lighthouse, you guided my wandering steps.

A silent refuge, a noiseless mirror,
Where the soul undresses… and then unfolds.
To questions, you never answer,
Yet you whisper truths the world confuses.

You saved me. You taught me.
Oh, how many times I fled your heavy presence.
But each time I returned,
You welcomed me with open arms.

By your side… I understood, I learned, I grew.

Today, when I speak,
Even elders are surprised by my age.
Too young, they say, for such words,
And yet… so many things, I have not lived,
At least not in raw reality.

Through you, I crossed those passages
In observation… in a living imagination.
You taught me others are mirrors.
Through their falls, I understood so much.

And as the Haitian proverb wisely says:
When the flame licks another,
Soak your soul before nightfall.

Many claim they wish to find themselves.
And yet, you… they never stop avoiding.
Like the ancient Australian walkabout,
You are the only path back to the authentic self,
Unmasked, unadorned, bare.

Solitude, you are not exile.
You are the path of a subtle return.

So…
Allow me a moment of arrogance,
And to pretend I speak for the living—
To offer you sincere gratitude,
Deep, whispered by a clear-hearted soul…
Through these verses.

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🪞 Reflection

What part of you only speaks when everything else goes quiet?

Joe Robinson as promised, this is the text ✌🏼.

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Until next time,
Warmly,
Odel A.