SATSC Poem: He who has ears to hear

I talk too much, or so I’ve been told 

I am always interrupting, overflowing 

I have always been full of so many thoughts and so many feelings and so many words 

Why do you think I got into writing? 

But you let me talk for hours on end, late into the night 

they say time flies but this moment is faster than light, shimmering stars 

hours flash past, illuminating us as they zip by 

I have never let anyone hear this much of me 

My voice, my story, my song 

serene echoes through the dark 

sung just for you it seems 

In return you let me hear you 

Your laughter, your worries, your hope 

tender, fleeting whispers over the phone line 

I too have a hope 

Let me tell you one more thing before 

it is too late 

to really comprehend what this is we’ve created 

There is something intimate in knowing someone’s voice 

recognizing their frequency amidst the clamour 

finding comfort in its familiar smoothness 

noticing when it turns sharp 

Yours is the ground beneath my feet 

I step forward and know implicitly 

it is there 

Mine is the rushing of water 

a stream come awake with spring 

lively, endless, restless, powerful 

crashing waves that threaten to pull you into the current 

I want to tell you . . . 

my friend said the funniest thing 

my boss is driving me insane 

my package finally arrived 

my day was exhausting 

my dinner was good 

. . . everything 

We have so much time and it will never be enough for me 

I sometimes hear you when you aren’t really there 

tell me what I want to hear 

that story again 

I don’t mind the repetition 

I let you really hear 

just how shattered my thoughts and feelings and words can be 

you know precisely how it sounds for me to fall 

apart 

(in love?) 

I can still hear you 

It’s ok. It’s ok. It’s ok. 

Is it? 

I hope you have heard me well 

enough to know even the things I fail to say and which words 

I wish I hadn’t 

let the cruelty creep past my lips 

let you hear so much 

Floods wash away soil 

water erodes even the rockiest shores 

I never meant to drag you into this 

I have heard you loud 

and clear are your thoughts while mine swirl 

murky, muddled, memorizing your voice 

something to cling to 

Can you withstand me? 

I have heard you well 

enough to know precisely how it sounds 

right before the earthquake hits and the ground begins to shake 

cracking under entirely too much 

You cannot love me 

to life (mine) 

I will not let you love me 

to death (yours) 

Let me turn off the light, blow out the candle of our time 

it was a beautiful thing to learn the sound of your voice 

to learn the freedom and strength in my own 

Thank you for listening