The Science of Loneliness

They say the body is 60% water,

but some nights it feels like 90% longing.

Like every cell is stretching toward something,

like the bones ache for hands

that no longer reach back for them.

They say loneliness is just a trick of the brain,

a misfired signal,

a survival instinct gone wrong.

But what else do you call it when the empty chair

at the kitchen table feels emptier every day?

When your name sounds weird

because no one has said it in days?

If loneliness is just science,

then why does it feel

like poetry?