Sometimes I feel alone when I’m surrounded by good folk

Where my values and opinions are defined as feminist and woke

And the demands of polite behaviour makes me want to choke

I hear my voice and deep inside I wish I had never spoke

Sometimes my age defines me and people think I’m cute

And laugh at every utterance, and tell me I’m a hoot

Sometimes I am seen as wise and regarded as astute

But I long to dance a jig in a hat and birthday suit

There are times I’m on my own and have inner conversations

When I reflect upon the journey of myself and my relations

And I linger on the dangers of miscommunications

Wondering if my children will acheive their expectations

Gender, age and race, ability and status

Inhibit and restrain how folk around us rate us

Our passions and beliefs influence them to like or hate us

And we can end up in a group of people who just bait us

When I am alone I’m rarely lonely, my thoughts are always turning

My busy brain is analysing the issues that are concerning

From my family to wars and global forest burning

But sometimes, in groups, I feel loneliness returning.