Don’t try so hard to hear,
and perhaps you will.
Travel to where noise goes to die,
the silence of space.
Live the gift of your deafness,
and hear what others miss,
The sound of a smile that has not yet come,
The echo of love beyond harsh words spoke,
The whisper of possibility as the soul speaks through pain.
Hear the movement of the clouds
across a winter sky,
The music of the wind
before it comes,
The stirring of the sea beneath the depths.
Listen to the quiet
as you would a master or scholar.
Hear the sun rise and pass through the horizon.
Hear where there is no sound
and translate to those who have yet to hear
the wisdom of the quiet.
Surrender to your deafness
and it will set you free.
Spend time in the pauses of life,
the places where people rush through,
where true gifts are born and found.
Stop trying to hear the words
or being a part of the conversation,
and hear within the pause of words,
within the pauses of life.
Stop, listen, reflect.
Your life will not be “normal” or like it was,
this is the path of loss.
Listen to how it is
without grasping for how it was.
Listen to how it is to be,
the moments of unfolding,
without fear of what may come.
Hear through listening.
Listen within the moments before things happen,
The moment before the sun hits the ground,
The moment before a heart heals,
The moment before a person goes Home
The moment before a first breath of life.
Hear within what you see,
The sound behind your lovers eyes,
The sound of your children dreaming,
The sound of you waking up to love.
Hear within the pause.
Hear before the beginning and after the end.
Hear the voice of eternity
speak the language of kindness.
Don’t try so hard to hear
and discover the gifts your deafness brings.
- Lee Jampolsky (1960-)
