Words Are Windows

(or They're Walls)

I feel so sentenced by your words,

I feel so judged and sent away,

Before I go I've got to know,

Is that what you mean to say?

Before I rise to my defense,

Before I speak in hurt or fear,

Before I build that wall of words,

Tell me, did I really hear?

Words are windows or their walls,

They sentence us or set us free,

When I speak and when I hear,

Let the love light shine through me.

There are things I need to say,

Things that mean so much to me,

If my words don't make me clear,

Will you help me to be free?

If I seemed to put you down,

If you felt I didn't care,

Try to listen through my words,

To the feelings that we share.

                                                               Ruth Behermeyer.

Just started reading a book on Nonviolent Communication by Marshall B. Rosenberg.  It opens with this poem which has already made me start to think.