As small as a world and as large as alone.

The skin you call your home holds a heart that quits and knees that buckle and lungs that can't breathe when they're alone.

“Language has created the word loneliness to express the pain of being alone, and the word solitude to express the glory of being alone.”
--Paul Tillich

Maggy and Milly and Molly and May
went down to the beach to play one day.
And Maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles,
and Milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;
and Molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles
and May came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.
For whatever we lose, like a you or a me
it's always ourselves we find in the sea.
--e. e. cummings