Barricades

We join the public social functions To fill our time with emptiness, And list our names with organizations To barricade ourselves from loneliness. We surround ourselves with similar faces, Acquaintances forgotten when out of view; They neither know our names nor places-- The friends we have are all too few. We build our concrete dams of silence, As if the passing time we could slow. Barricades both defend and imprison, Leaving us with our thoughts, alone. Tear down your dams, and breach my barricades.