Silence

To Those Who Cannot Speak –

Let it be known that I hear your voice,

Through the wrinkles in your skin and the quick motions of your hands,

Sound is not the only choice.

I feel your fingertips writing letters on my palms,

Fingernails tracing on bare skin in the night,

Soothe your qualms –

My backbone is your new canvas,

Tattoo your words on my skin,

Let me hear you!

We have our secret language,

Through glittering blue orbs and soft pink lips,

I hear the concern in your eyes, the fear in your quivering hands,

I see. I see. I see-

What it is you cannot say.

Let it be known –that the thread holding your lips together is not invulnerable,

Two minds may not think alike but two hearts speak the same

 -and I know the pulsing beats like my own.

When those children on the playground teased you,

When those adults spoke too quickly –lips moving relentlessly in a slew of angry words because they do not understand –

When those strangers knocked you to the cold, hard ground,

Close, slam, throw that door straight through the socket and never look back –never look back.

I am your voice –

Your hands when they fail you,

Your lips when they quiver,

Your ears –which have failed you time and time again through these long, relentless years.

Silence.

Let your tongue grace this earth.

Here, we speak.