Alone in a Crowd

I told them I was with friends,

laughing beneath flickering lights.

But really I sat on a cracked plastic chair,

notepad heavy in my lap,

words scribbled frantic and half-finished.

The bass throbbed through the floor,

but I watched others dance like flames

I could never quite catch.

So I lied about the company,

wrapped my silence in crowded noise,

because being alone

felt like the loneliest song.