Sabbatical

A group of girls stand
Clustered together,
Hopeful.
Excitement and anticipation
shine from their faces
as they share this new experience.
Shyly, cautiously
a boy approaches.
"Would you like to dance?"

One by one
the girls leave the group.
One remains,
Alone,
unasked,
forgotten,
ignored.
She waits with a look of expectation.
The song ends and another begins.
She sits down to enjoy the music.
Her smile freezes.
She rejoices for her friends.
And quietly withdraws.

~E. J. Tree

"We walk alone in the world. Friends such as we desire are dreams and fables. But a sublime hope cheers ever the faithful heart, that elsewhere, in other regions of the universal power, souls are now acting, enduring and daring, which can love us and which we can love."                                                 

~Ralph Waldo Emerson, Friendship, Essays: First Series