Am I The Only One

Am I
The only one
Who dreads
Birthdays

Or other days

With a big empty space
Held open
For others
To tell you
How they feel
About your
Existence

And with that space

Always the chance
Sometimes the reality
Of silence

Am I

The only one
Who dreads
Long weekends

Twenty four additional hours

Of empty time
Where fun used to dwell
But where now fun
Must be fought for
Forced up
From the emptiness

Am I

The only one
Who dreads
Thinking ahead
Because what’s
Up the road
Doesn’t look all that
Inviting

Am I

The only one
Who prefers
The daily grind
The dull busyness of life
Over time set aside
To step back
And see life
For how hard
It really is

For how much work it takes

To keep it afloat
When it wants to sink
To keep it intact
When it wants to fall apart

What I think

I’m really asking is
Am I
The only one
Who dreads
Life