Listen.
What do you hear? Are you listening?
Can you hear your heart thumping the blood through your veins?
Can you hear your lungs deeply expanding and collapsing in your chest?
How about the hum of the television or the murmur of the radio?
Do you hear the scratch of your pencil on paper or the tip tap of your typewriter?
What do your thoughts say? What are they telling you?
What does the clock imply, ticking away the time, as you read this?
Do you hear the bark of the dog, meow of a cat, or the neighbors greeting each other?
Do you hear the crowds?
What do the people say?
Can you hear the child pleading, the infant sobbing, the strollers rolling?
Can you hear the couple pass by, pecking each other’s lips?
How about the traffic bustling down the street, the horn of a taxi, the screech of the truck breaks, the exhaust blackening the air?
Can you hear the clickity clatter of the train on steel rail, the rickety rattle of the box-cars?
Can you hear the clink of the passengers’ morning tea- cup, the stir of the spoon?
Can you hear the sputter of the rain on the window?
Do you hear the door close behind you when you arrive home?
Do you hear your keys crash onto the table, your bag thump onto the floor?
Can you hear the lights turn off, the darkness oozing about?
Can you hear the shuffle of your foot- steps?
When you pause and stop in your tracks, what are you listening to?
Pause.
Do you hear the silence?
Listen or that is all you will ever hear.
I wrote this poem the other day because for a long time, I have tried to comprehend what listening actually means, so I figured I would share my thoughts on what it means to me.
Listening is not an easy thing to do. I have learned that it is extremely easy to hear things, but actually listening, comprehending, and understanding is difficult. It took me a while to learn how listening can save a friendship. When a friend or even a family member is having a tough time with something, is emotionally unstable, or is in search for advice, and they come to me for help, I don't just hear their voices saying random words. I don't immediately jump in and tell them my opinion, leaving it at that. What I do is look them in the eyes, keep my mouth shut, and listen to every single word their heart is pleading out to me.
Sometimes friends and family are not looking for advice when they need to get something off their chest, just someone to listen to them. When this happens, I don't say anything after they are done speaking because I know that they are actually not finished with that they have to say. When they say they are finished, I take a beat, maybe embrace them in my arms and ask if they would like any advice or help.
We as humans can be so caught up in our own lives, we don't realize how oblivious we are to what is going on around us and to be more specific, we as humans don't realize how much we don't listen to each other. Politics, war, poverty, starvation, global warming, and ignorant opinions are all dark, heavy burdens that result from not listening to each other or to our beautiful planet. We like to jump to conclusions, instead of listening to the opposing side and I don't agree with this. I believe that taking into consideration all sides of a situation and compromising is more effective. I understand that doing this is not at all easy, but if all of us individually try to really listen to our spouses, children, family, friends, and strangers when they speak, we will be able to live more harmoniously.
So, if you are hearing silence, try and open up your heart and ears and listen to the world around you.
