If we don't Listen how will we Hear?

"Do You Hear Me Now?" (song)

(With thanks to Bert Jansch)

If I avert my gaze from the ills of the world;
If I cover my ears to the wails and cries

Who will hear me when I call?

Who will listen when I speak?

If I silence my thoughts,
put a finger to my lips;
refuse to speak out when the world is in flames;
who will heed me when I warn of lightening, smoke and ash?

If not me who, if not now when?

If I do not call things by their true name,

If I do not see things as they really are,
if I only look the other way;
who will know my heart, who will hark to my voice?

If the only words we hear are our own, the only vision ours,
then for whom do we speak, for whom do we write, for whom do we draw?

If we are only an echo of ourselves
then who will answer in the canyon's expanse?

If not now when, if not us then who?

Ronda R. Scott-Marak

© 18 February 2017