Langston Hughes on walking alone

your friends may be with you, but there are some things you walk alone

"Crossing" by Langston Hughes

It was that lonely day, folks,
When I walked all by myself.
My friends was all around me
But it was as if they'd left.
I went up on a mountain 

In a high cold wind 

And the coat that I was wearing 

Was mosquito-netting thin. 
I went down in the valley 
And I crossed an icy stream 
And the water I was crossing 
Was no water in a dream 
And the shoes I was wearing 
No protection for that stream. 
Then I stood out on a prairie 
And as far as I could see 
Wasn't nobody on that prairie 
Looked like me. 
It was that lonely day, folks, 
I walked all by myself: 
My friends was right there with me 
But was just as if they'd left.