Solitude Isn’t Only Lonely

I know too well the deflated silence
of a recently vacated space
I am wont to cling to connection
even after the second to last person
to leave has made their exit
I linger in the afterglow of what was
until the empty silence is unbearable
and I hasten to escape it
but I am beginning to discover
that the solitude is different 
when I am not the last to leave
different when I choose to move 
from gathering to leaving
even when it means choosing
to accept both solitude and silence
I discover that in fact I am enough
and that even the emptiness of silence
is nothing to be feared

April 2020