Like a Story

Please, if you can,
... try not to say too many words
this time.
For once, we will exchange our
places and you’ll be uncomfortable for just
a while- forbidden to speak
when you want to, and you always do. And
there you’ll stand or sit with
your back against the wall- marked with my shadow
and your hands...
folded like mine always are. And you’ll know it
helps me listen,
like when children pray.
This time
I’ll talk, because a pure and blank page is not
enough sometimes, not the only refuge for my words-
sheltered, I know
because I’ve let them be
for too long. But the words are not made
of insignificant matter that is only tossed
into the invisible wind to blow away, lacking
importance ... lacking meaning. And if you
only listen...
...
to me
you’ll see that I have a voice too. You’ll see
that when I am silent, there is a mighty storm of
thoughts going through my head...
like a story
that hasn’t been read before, like
a letter to a faraway someone, still
sealed
with a voice that forgot how to make itself heard.
Please, if you can,
...try not to say too many words.
Let me speak this time, if only just once,
listen...
because it may be the only chance you have
to know.