" .... No man is an Island, entire of it self;
every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less,
as well as if a promontory were,
as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were;
any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in Mankind;
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee .... "
- John Donne: Meditation XVII
when I listen
to you
setting aside
my trivial preoccupations
my blind thinking
my wish
my wish to put all right
my wish to interfere
my wish to manage your life
my wish to impress on you
my superior wisdom
and decisiveness
(so supposed)
do you suppose
I'm doing this
for you?
when I listen
to you
my petty self-concern
falling away
my heart begins
to open
and to ease
my bones
to warm
my spirit
to stir
grow young
refresh, reviving
my incessant
churning mill-wheel
of a mind
finds pause
above the torrent
when I listen
to you
you too
reaching
toward me
in your way
our differences
dissolving
into air
or
forming crystals
of acceptable
separation
do you realise
how much this enlarges me? -
to remember:
you too
you have
an equivalent centre of self ....
when I listen
to you ....
28th June 1990