WHISPER, DON'T SCREECH (Respect to John Donne)

You're quiet - never seen.

I know not what you think
for you never exhibit all you seem;
and I know you though you never speak.

Once I hoped you’d speak;
to tell of all you keep so silent, muted and dumb;
and I tried for conversation,
for the words of motherhood and love,
but you were quiet - unseen.

At first I thought you totally dumb,
a mute without a tongue,
an autistic frustration to me as I tried to tell,
to speak with your foreign tongue.

As with two tongues pidgin soon developed.
It grew in strength and sprouted wings
and flew in time between us,
gradually becoming tame with time and love.

To each of us our pidgin came:
a carrier of notes,
explanations, hints of whispers
and language translations.

And now I know your language,
though I've never heard you speak.
You are not dumb - you whisper;
and I whisper now: don't screech.

The great poet himself ...