If I Really Cared…
A Poem
“If I really cared…
I would look you in the eyes
when you talked to me;
I would think about what you are saying
rather than what I am going to say next;
I would hear your feelings
as well as your words.
If I really cared…
I would listen without defending;
I would hear without deciding
whether you are right or wrong;
I would ask you why,
not just how and when and where.
If I really cared…
I would allow you inside of me;
I would tell you my hopes,
my dreams, my fears, my hurts;
I would tell you when I’ve blown it
and when I’ve made it.
If I really cared…
I would laugh with you but not at you;
I would talk with you and not to you;
And I would know when it is time to do neither.
If I really cared…
I wouldn’t climb over your walls;
I would hang around until you let me in the gate.
I wouldn’t unlock your secrets;
I would wait until you handed me the key.
If I really cared…
I would love you anyhow;
But I would ask for the best that you can give
And gently draw it from you.
If I really cared…
I would put away my scripts,
And leave my solutions at home.
The performances would end.
We’d be ourselves.”
Ruth Senter- “Startled by Silence”
Daybreak Books (Zondervan)
– Ruth Senter- “Startled by Silence”