Will You Listen?

There are all kinds of secrets

Found throughout the day:

Dishes not wash all the way,

Television on before dressed for the bus,

Brownies made and cleaned up after.

 

(Not everything is too much.)

 

Good secrets come and go,

Bad secrets like to crop up as well:

Homework hidden and not done,

People pushing things under the rug;

Ignore it enough, it’ll go away?

 

(No it won’t.)

 

Bad secrets aren’t the only ones hiding,

Good secrets jump out and brighten your life:

Kittens brought home when you needed a friend,

A first attempt at a child’s sewing gifted, made by hand.

Someone coming over just because, but managing to bring just what you needed.

 

(Woken up at night, given what you need to work from home.)

 

Secrets like to lurk and hide,

They like to make you stumble and your eyes go wide,

But at the same time, they can be quiet and sneak up on you.

A child waking their mother at night,

Seeking peace to sleep by talking something out.

“I’m always here if you need me, if only to talk it out.”

 

(She didn’t mind how late it was or that she had work in three hours.)

 

Families can be loud with their secrets,

Shouting them out and using the bright lights to distract

From the shadows lurking beneath.

They can also be quiet,

Barely whispering about the teeth and the heartbreak.

 

(Just because ‘everyone knows’ doesn’t mean that they understand.)

 

But will you listen as I speak my words?

Will you keep quiet to hear all that is in me?

My secrets are my own to share or silence,

But will you listen to them all the same?

Secrets can choke you, both good and bad, if you cannot tell anyone.

 

(Oh Lord, I pray, listen to my heart as well as my mouth.)

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Written for this week’s Dungeon Prompts: http://theseekersdungeon.com/2014/03/13/dungeon-prompts-season-2-week-11-secrets/

Partially prompted by a few things coming to light this morning: the children didn’t quite finish getting ready for school and one almost missed the bus, but they’d made brownies after everyone had gone to bed and yet had managed to clean up (almost) completely after themselves. This morning really needed those brownies.