Silence Speaks

Everyone just keeps talking
So sure they know “the right” thing to say
Meaningless words, just to say them
Repetitive and cliche

They think they can understand
What is exactly felt by another
But just because we are human
Is not full insight into each other

Sometimes someone is broken or bruised
And grieving things from inside of their world
That others did not experience or feel
As that person’s reality painfully unfurled

Sitting next to someone in silence
Is sometimes better than feeling the need
To say the right thing when there is none
Sometimes it is best to read…
the room

Feel your way softly, with a gentle heart
Not always with your critical thinking
Accepting someone for where they are
Even when they feel like they’re sinking

You can’t force someone out
Of the emotional state they are in
There are times when it is necessary
To sit with the darkness and sin

The darkness can be denied
But it doesn’t change very much
Pain will grow more inside of you
When it lacks your accepting touch

The darkness exists with the light
Don’t force someone into the sun
Silence and just sitting next to them
Is sometimes the closest to being one

We are each alone within our minds
The confines of our perception
What someone feels and what they see
Does not always need correction

Comatose

Dark is the night

When all have forsaken you

 and

some

 have mistaken

your intent

For malice

Others

 have seen a glimpse

of your soul

And despised it

Many

have perceived you

As unworthy

And you

 have

Lost yourself

In an ocean

Of torment

Undulating waves

of painful

regrets

Calamity

of confusion

Disorientation

of perception

You have

lost your mind

Lost your reason

Lost

your memory

of what was important

in the first place

You are left

with questions

that

you are afraid

to know the answers to

the Why

the What for

and 

Was the past

just a dream

A nightmare

Or simply

a passing thought

of

a comatose patient

lying motionless

in a hospital bed

To My Nurses …..( from the point of view of a very old person)

** this poem is written from the point of view of a nursing home resident as I have observed that they feel from my many years of working and volunteering  in nursing homes””

TO MY NURSES…

Just because I am old

Does not mean I should be discarded

I was young like you once

Full of life and very big hearted

I raises my babies , just like you are

I loved my husband and drove a car

I had a beautiful house 

that I took care of with love

I baked Christmas cookies

and knitted my grandchildren gloves

I bet you don’t know but I worked really hard

I struggled and fought for my family

I felt things very deeply and cared very much

I had family and friends whose lives that I touched

I once was important and had a real life

Just like you do and you never think 

That your life will pass away just like mine did

You’ll end up with nothing you worked for, in the end

You’ll lose your driver’s license 

and your favorite car too

You’ll lose your independence

and people’s respect 

You’ll watch your spouse die and miss him forever

You’ll dread the phone ringing

because more and more family dies

But you might keep going, on with your life

Even thought there is nothing left that matters

You will not understand why God makes you stay

and does not take you home 

to heaven 

to be with your loved ones

The only people you will have to talk to at all

will be the nurses in the nursing home 

and the patients that do not remember your name

So, please have compassion for me and be patient

Because someday it could be you in my place

All the power you feel now 

and the things that you love

and the ability to make choices about your day

Could be taken away , never to be seen again

and the life that you once thought was yours…

will become a sad memory that no one wants to listen to

Including the nurses that will take care of you