Listening

I let myself sink deep

into the gentle gravity

of conversation —

let the weight of listening

match the weight of words

let the chain of story

pull the meaning out

let the feeling be expressed

till it was felt

In its time, but only then

I spoke

responding not to words

but to the fundamental frequency

revealed in this space

where we walked together

So we have learned

communication —

the ready give and take

the ebb and flow

that pulls us ever closer to each other

where words become the froth, 

and understanding

is the sweet, recurrent, steady undertow.

©Wendy Mulhern

June 21, 2012