Life is full of monologues,
Tongue-tied slurs on end.
Troubled minds and troubled hearts
Yet we fail to understand.
This failure comes from selfishness
Our own desire skews
The fabric of relationships and
Communication that ensues.
We seem to be one step behind
Or maybe one step ahead.
Conversations dwell on future
Words that need not be said.
So what is gained when all our thoughts
Are sprawled all over our head?
And the person on the other side
Feels this transaction’s dead.
For all the while we may speak
Of all noble words indeed,
Our thoughts they drift off fingertips
And our minds they slowly bleed.
For when we do not care to care
Of what question others lead,
This muddled mind we hold divine,
Is closed and pays no heed.
So why must words and phrases each
Be crowded at our doors
Be competing everyday
To fill our speaking stores.
You and I and s/he alike
Surely we all yearn
To incautiously turn an open ear
And forever learn.
To listen with not just our mind
But with our open heart
To all the fortunes, gifts, and praise
That from ones mouth does part
Sit one day don’t say a word
And listen all you can
To troubled minds and troubled hearts
Trying to understand.