Listening, Finally

author’s note:

I’m listening, yes…but sometimes still hard of hearing.


LISTENING, FINALLY

Not until I listened
did I feel

how empty I felt

and then I realized:
the desire to fill that emptiness
had long driven my life.

But in blind desperation
I’d sought sources
that could only sate me
for the length of a blink.

And so I kept running

until finally, exhausted
I stopped
and instead of seeking, sat

then, in stillness
felt how empty I felt.

But as my listening deepened
down into the depths
those waters started to rise.

© 2020, Michael R. Patton
Poet, Heal Thyself: poetry ebook