LISTEN
When I ask you to listen to me
and you start to give me advice
you have not done what I asked.
When I ask you to listen to me
And you begin to tell me why
I shouldn’t feel that way
You are trampling on my feelings.
When I ask you to listen to me
And you feel you have to
Do something to solve my problem
You have failed me,
Strange as that may seem.
Listen!
All I asked was that you listen,
Not talk or do—just hear me.
Advice is cheap; you can get both from
Dear Abby and Billy Graham
In the same newspaper.
And I can do for myself;
I’m not helpless.
Maybe discouraged and faltering,
But not helpless.
When you do something for me that
I can and need to do for myself,
You contribute to my fear
And weakness.
But, when you accept as a simple
Fact that I do feel what I feel,
No matter how irrational,
Then I can quit trying to convince
You and can get about the business
Of understanding what’s
Behind this irrational feeling.
And when that’s clear,
The answers are obvious
And I don’t need advice.
Irrational feelings make sense
When we understand
What’s behind them.
And, if you want to talk,
Wait a minute for your turn;
And I’ll listen to you.
By Community Notes. The Foundation for Community Encouragement, Knoxville, TN, Vol.6.,No.3, Fall
1990.
Related articles
- Trust the Process of Grieving (withsympathygifts.com)
- When I ask you to listen to me…… (theengagingbrand.typepad.com)
- 4 Survival Tips While Grieving (withsympathygifts.com)
The post A Poem for the Grieving: Listen appeared first on With Sympathy Gifts.