oneWord: emptiness
There is a loneliness like holes cut into peoples hearts with knives that are like tea kettles, but empty ones, empty tin kettles- all the tea leaves have been taken out, all the fortunes have been gleaned, all the lives that the leaves predicted have happened and passed on by.
There is a loneliness and the holes cut into people's hearts are like snowflakes or paper stars snipped out of valentines. little snow men dance in white emptinesses.