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I want this.
But you want that.
We can’t both have our way.
We’re at odds.
An impasse.
What next?
Shall we shout our demands louder to drown each other out?
Try to force our will on each other, and see who wins the fight?
I’m tired of that. How about you?
And lately I’ve been wondering…
What if what we really want is each other?
To be close.
To hold each other.
To see and be seen.
To know each other so deeply that we fill each other up so completely that nothing else is needed.
But we can’t bear to admit it.
Because we’re so proud.
Too afraid to admit to wanting love.
Terrified to surrender to our desire for forgetting ourselves.
But let’s just say, my hunch is right…
Then only one next step makes sense.
To listen.
But don’t misunderstand me, and assume you know what I mean.
Don’t skip ahead - yada yada yada.
Don’t do that!
Please stop. At least for a moment.
Linger a little longer.
You see, I’m not referring to an everyday, petty, transactional sort of listening.
Oh no, we have to be much, much gentler than that.
Gentler than we can imagine.
Beyond the bounds of our whole life experience up to this point.
And let our listening fall so low that it gets underneath the roots of pain, and changes what grows above.
Transforms weeds into blossoms so beautiful we can hardly bear to look.
A lullaby of listening.
That soothes soreness away.
And rocks our racing minds into a slower rhythm.
Until our shoulders drop and our fears collapse into one glorious sigh.
And we remember that our breath is shared.
And can never be at the expense of each other.
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