Weekend Poem

First, Silence

I want you to know me by my silences

Instead of the swaggering speeches,

The arguments honed like spears,

Vows and decrees shouted from rooftops

For all the heedless world to hear.

The incessant endless onslaught

Of boy clamoring to be man.

I want you to know me now by silence;

The implacable presence of being

That half steps ahead of every moment.

I want you to sense it before I'm close enough
To cast shadows across your face.

Then I can stop running from the old deep fear.

Listen now as I whisper to the darkness.

Listen for the hushed words never before spoken,

The words the rest of the world can't hear.

4/8/18