vulnerable hearing

 i am so open when i listen

my being seeps in between

the words, hears, and is changed

at times that is all that is needed

for the speaker hears self  and knows

from within who is and what must be

others wallow in the unjust, the pain

is for spreading in guise of compassion

i cannot listen – i turn away to heal

stand down and stand by

 elderly now we

watch rather than live for

as our progeny work out

their own mistakes

and hug their chosen in triumphs

observers now of what we gave life

and fought to nurture

we are left to learn

our own eternal being