the bitch called loneliness

I know that bitch called loneliness is coming for me soon.
I can feel her breathing down my neck.
I fear her the most of all who haunt me.
She knows I’m tender, and exactly where I bruise.

My love fought her off with a vengeance,
but she knows he will soon be far away,
and she’s lurking, and prowling, and taunting me,
whispering “you’ll come crawling back, you always do”.

I know when the last goodnight is uttered,
she will snatch me quicker than I can yelp.
I wait for her with baited breath,
knowing her embrace is inevitable.

But perhaps I am bigger and stronger now.
Perhaps my love left armour in my bones that even she cannot penetrate.
Perhaps I’m no longer a feast for her to consume.
Let her try.