The trick is to look as if

no company you seek,

that you’d look with disdain upon

anyone who chose to speak

and interrupt your solitary meal.

The shield is the book you bring

to read with avid lust,

displaying a thirst for knowledge

not interrupted for just

a conversation you would shun with zeal.

The steps are the ones you take

to provide protection

from sympathetic knowing eyes

to escape their detection

of truth beneath the cover that you throw.

The truth of the matter is

you would give anything

to have someone sit down and to

your sweet isolation bring

a ray of hope, if only they could know.