Listen


Listen.

Hush—listen


“Listen! I know the way!”


“But I have something to say…”


Listen

Hush again, listen.


Always listening.

Till when?

When do they get to speak,

Yell,

Scream

Out the things

they know and believe?


Hush!

Listen!


"Yes, ma, yes, da

I’ll listen.”


Good, you can listen.

Then think of the things

You believe.


Question.

Everything.


Go where the evidence leads.


But don’t listen to me.


Listen?

They just hear.

Listening is for children to keep

Them near

as they cross the street.


“Listen to me—I know what’s best.”


Likely.


“Listen! This is what is safe.”


Likely.


What will our wee’uns think when the world tell’s them

“Listen!”


Without ever giving them an ear for their own reasoning?


Poetry like this is for children


Not to read or enjoy


It’s for the grown-ups who are too busy sharing

Their story.


Listen!!


Tell them, teach them the way—show them the way, but

Listen.


Wait. Your story?


Who among us thought that our adult stories

Are worth more than,

Smarter than,

Better than

What the youngest have to share?


Listen!


Do you know more?

Likely.

Do you know more?

More than the child with a head filled with dreams of

Wicked witches and poppy fields?

Do you know more?

More than the child who’s spent their entire life

Listening?

to you?


Hanging on every word—learning to speak, eat and—


No, you listen.

What you say, what you do—they do also


Hush, listen…


“To whom?”


Hush, listen.


“To Sammy? He was born yesterday!”


Yet he listens more than you.


Listen? I know what’s best!

Yet they listen more than you…


Careful, if you spend your life speaking you’ll only stop to hear

The things you must settle down and listen to


Hush! Listen! They’ll listen, but you only hear.

In one ear and out the other end!


Listening to those who only stop to speak will teach them

Hush! Listen!


Teach them, but give them space

To let their minds create the things

They know.


And listen.


“What wisdom or any sort of sense can come from—”

Stop. Listen.


This isn’t about

What may or may not be learned

It’s about listening!

Knowing what it’s like to be heard.


So, hush, listen—you may actually learn something

If nothing else, how to


Listen!!


We used to listen, now we just hear

We’ve forgotten how clear

It is

When we just

“Listen! I’m old enough now, I can do this. Listen!”


“You’re my child, I know best, but—”

“Listen! It’s only 5 miles away and my license is here!”


So strange to be the one who listens after being heard for 14, 15, 16

Years!


They’ve learned so much—they should, they’ve


Listened.


We only hear.


Give them the lessons, the teachings but then

Listen.

They have a callow wisdom, and then they can


Listen.

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Worth It

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An Essay About Failure and Lessons… Kinda