Listening to See, Looking to Hear: a Follow-Up to Blind/Mute

(A continuation of poem Blind/Mute)

No, you won’t see me there
Not in my eyes, not in my face
But you can see me, still,
If you know how to listen

No, you won’t hear me there
Not in my tone or cadence 
But you can hear me, still,
If you know how to look 

Communication sometimes really comes
From a particular choice of words
And sometimes with a lesser known meaning
From an oddly-tinted vocabulary
But if you’re unsure
There’s never shame in asking  

Communication sometimes really comes
From granting shiny pebbles
Whether tangible or audible
Carefully selected
Elements of trust
Evidence of affection
Or sometimes even love
Love of any sort 

Communication can bloom
From a different kind of intuition
That others may not easily share
So you may need to squint your eyes
To hear that frequency
Or cup your ears
To see that wavelength 

I hope you can see that I’m trying
To find a common ground
Where we can understand each other
Because despite my blank stare
It really does matter to me
You and what you have to say
Really do matter

I can’t traverse the entire path to you
By my efforts alone
Neither can you to I
By yours alone
But if you can meet me halfway
I’ll happily embrace you there 

Then we will see each other
If we speak in ways we understand
And we know how to listen 

We will hear each other 
If we really want to
If we just know how to look 

Oct 7, 2024

I may be silent, but I’m thinking. I may not talk, but don’t mistake me for a wall.

Shigeji Tsuboi