Do you know how it feels
to be all alone?
Forgotten, discarded
Just like a stone
Do you know what it’s like
to have no one at all?
No friends, no family
No one to call
The silence surrounds you
There is nothing else
An absence of life
which leaves only strife
Do you know the toll
it takes on your soul?
No amount of wishing
able to make you whole
I hope you don’t know
the cost of being alone
The feeling of doubt
that you don’t really count
Without all this pain
I might have a chance
But somehow I doubt it
This is My Dance
Not looking for pity
Keep your prayers to yourself
There’s nothing to do
Though I wish you could help
Just look around you
Take in your good fortune
You have people who care
Aren’t you glad that’s not rare?
All Things Chronic 
This is beautiful, and moving, and sad.
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“Keep your prayers to yourself” – that’s a loaded line! It says a whole lot in very few words, as poetry should.
It didn’t bother Me the first thousand times I heard it, but after a while, it grates on my nerves. For those of us who aren’t religious, it’s almost a hint that if we’d prayed for ourselves, we might not need theirs. It lets people feel like they are “helping” when they aren’t.
I read a study that said very, very few people ever follow up with specific prayers, so you can add lying to the problem with this statement
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As an atheist, I really see prayers as my own personal issue. When someone says they’re going to pray for you, to me it sounds like they’re going to meditate or think about someone else’s problems. And I don’t know how someone else’s personal meditation is going to help anyone else. It’s almost like a cop out, because as you say, very few people follow up with specific prayers. It’s almost like they’re saying… I’m going to meditate instead of offer to help.
I understand the sentiment behind prayers — I use the same sentiment when I say “thinking of you.” But I don’t think praying to a god helps anyone but the believer who’s praying.
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I’ve never thought about prayers in this way before, but it’s actually very sound logic.
I’m not religious so I never offer to pray for others, but I do offer to send positive energy/thoughts out into the universe on another’s behalf when there is little else I can do to help.
What you’ve said about people offering to pray instead of offering help I can see. I have friends who pray for me while talking to me over the phone because they can’t be with me so I do receive the specific prayers, and I accept them mainly because I know it helps them feel better.
However, now you’ve got me thinking about people who habitually offer to pray for you even when you directly ask them for help.
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This is a beautiful poem.
The honesty hurts my heart.
I hope the community you’re a part of online helps to ease your lonliness as it does mine.
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You’re not the only one.
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