The Narrow Place

 

Put me in

the place of your story.

Show me who you are

and where you are from.

All along,

I’ve been alone

and telling mine.

Each word,

every syllable,

a heartbeat.

 

Speak to me,

so I might hear you.

Project your voice;

your audience

is captive.

Keep them that way

with the generosity

of your suffering.

 

Don’t hold back.

I’m a grown man.

I can take it.

God knows,

I’ve been through

the narrow part

of the river

a time or two

myself,

and here I am,

waiting for you

to put me right back in it.

 

For your sake.

For my sake.

There is nothing more important

than we might understand one another.

I reject this gift

at my peril,

so I accept it,

eagerly,

hungrily.

As if my own life

and the lives of those I love

depends on it.

Because, it does.

They do.

 

We are not

so disparate creatures

and we all

come to the narrow place

to be smashed

and dashed

to pieces by the rocks

and the current.

We both seek

the calm waters

on the other side.

The path that leads

to paradise.

 

 

HG – 2022

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