this is the way i will leave you

i came home. sick. all the lights were on. everyone was in bed.
tell me this isn't what it's like.
tell me that i'm lonely.
tell me something and stop listening to me.
you never understood me.
this is the struggle. this is the sick. this is the lonely.
this is where one person turns to another and says, "you've been gone for so long. why don't you go back home?"