Saturday, December 12, 2020

I Will Wait andListen

Did You listen when I prayed

Did You hear my words 

Perhaps I asked in plain speech

and  You wanted sounds leavened 

with metaphors and tears

My heart carried plaintive sounds,

my words held fragments of a narrative 

My daughter, I said, stopped talking to me

when I spoke of loving a woman 

She left no space to speak

I prayed and asked for help—

Year after year I spoke and you remained

cloistered, silent and withdrawn

Were you testing my resolve

Now years beyond 

my first request

a doorway opened

and we shared words

—syllables exchanged between strangers

Now I pray for a bridge 

to span the divide

I will wait and listen