Note from Joe: This is reminiscent of Ogden Nash's "Listen...". However, Scruggs ventures further than Nash, positing that the reason we are lonely beings is that we were made in the image and likeness of a lonely God. For the record, we Christians would disagree with that notion, since God has never been lonely, but rather has always enjoyed the company of Three Divine Persons in a co-eternal Trinity. And since we were made in that image and likeness, enjoying interpersonal relationships is built into our very nature. And that's precisely why occasional times of loneliness are so painful. I disagree with Nash and Scruggs that we are always lonely. It only feels that way sometimes. Nevertheless, both poems are apt examples of great poetry.
Man is forever lonely; there can be
No time or circumstance in all his days
To lead him out of loneliness; his ways
Are those of clouds and tides. Not even he
Who seeks the crowded solace of the street
Can find a single comrade there, nor yet
In secret bonds of love can men forget
Their heart's own solitude. Though lips may meet,
And hand touch hand in intimate embrace,
A stranger still abides within the mind
No word can reach, no vision ever find.
A lonely God, enthroned in lonely space,
Fashioned us out of silence as we are, —
As single as a tree, as separate as a star.