listen
just listen
no
try again
voice
don’t speak
understand
don’t know
decipher
don’t judge
steadfast
don’t rush
patience
a while longer
silence
just wait
hear
how can you
you do not
listen
listen
just listen
no
try again
voice
don’t speak
understand
don’t know
decipher
don’t judge
steadfast
don’t rush
patience
a while longer
silence
just wait
hear
how can you
you do not
listen
Despite the heartening reaction from so many quarters, it’s the incessant repetition of times like this that leave me with a bone-tired weariness and despair at the continued spinelessness and stupidity of ‘humanity’. That so many would accept the same fallacies, so often, by so few.
There is beauty in silence; but one should not confuse the silence of listening with the silence of inaction, acquiescence or appeasement. Ultimately, there comes a time when silence is submission. And with that thought I’ll leave you. In peace.
[1]
I was lost when you found me
standing next to the stairway
another path not yet discerned.
[2]
I remember the small girl spat upon by the roadside
the violence of men fearing innocence
little sense as my strength betrayed me.
[3]
It was fear that tore me
from what I had known
certain truths will cut the ties.
[4]
I remember the young woman in the headscarf
the flowers that she had bought
a lump in my throat as she handed them to me.
[5]
It was absence that drove me
toward a certain uncertainty
my rebellion finally overthrown.
[6]
I remember the old woman gentle in wisdom
her husband by the open door
as he sat and bade a silent welcome to me .
[7]
It is not wisdom and yet
I am content to sit and listen
birdsong beckoning in the silence.