(for Jimmy!!!)
When you listen you affirm me
but your listening must be real
sensitive and serious
not looking busily around
not with a worried or distracted frown
not preparing what you are going to say next
but giving me your full attention
You are telling me I am a person of value
important and worth listening to
one with whom you will share yourself
I have ideas to share
feelings which I too often keep to myself
deep questions which struggle inside me for answers
I have hopes only tentatively acknowledged
which are not easy to share
and pain and guilt and fear I try to stifle
These are sensitive areas and a real part of me
but it takes courage to confide in another
I need to listen to if we are to become close
How can I tell you I understand?
I can show interest with my eyes or an occasional word
attuned to pick up not only spoken words
but also the glimmer of a smile
a look of pain, the hesitation, the struggle
which may suggest something as yet too deep for words
So let us take time together
respecting the others freedom
encouraging without hurrying
understanding that some things may never be brought to light
but others may emerge if given time
Each through this listening, enriches the other
with the priceless gift of intimacy.
By Keith Pearson
1 comment:
The Gift
Yesterday morning
I opened the blind
and looked out from a different window
I was standing in the window
of the empty flat across the street
looking back at myself
I was holding up the lid of a shoe box
with these words written on it
...New Shoes...
someone else was in the room
he came to the window
and looking over smiled at me
he looked like Kurt Cobain
I decided to do four things
leave the blind open
put up a washing line
wash my clothes
and tidy my flat
This morning
I looked out from my window
a woman was moving into
the flat across the street
I went over
and helped her with her things
it wasn't difficult
Sitting on the steps drinking coffie
she said to me
'I don't care what I have
as long as I have peace'
'You know you're asking a lot'
I replied
'I know' She said
'but at least I've made a beginning'
'Well you've come to the right place
this is the street of new beginnings'
'Hurt'...She said
'is like an opening in the soul
it's a matter of windows
from one window it looks like a pit
from another window
it looks like the ground
has been dug out and prepared
prepared to receive a new foundation
the foundation of a new beginning'
To this I replied
'In my flat I have a sofa bed
I never use it
in fact it's just in the way
I'd be grateful if you'd take it off my hands'
'I'll pay you for it' she replied
'Only if you pay me what I gave for it
I got it as a gift
it's not much to look at
but it's comfortable and practical'
'Comfortable and practical
sounds just what I need'
she says slipping off her shoes
then she sighs
'Look at my feet'
'they look like two victims
of trying to fit in
both carrying the marks of the past
I swear if I have to go barefoot
I'll never wear these shoes again'
'I doubt if you'll have to
if you're willing to go barefoot'
She looks at me
'I'm also willing to get new shoes'
'I know the very place'
'I believe you do' she says
'and you can take that as a compliment
because right now
it is one of the few things
I do believe'
'Compliments''that is something
I'm not used to'
'Here then is something
for you to believe
you haven't been missing much'
I looked into the face
of this world weary woman
and could see the eyes
of a hurt little girl
welling up with tears
I struggled for something to say
and then realized
I didn't have to say anything.
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