Close your eyes

Not tightly

As one would when trying to block out pain

But gently

As if asleep and relaxed

Close your eyes and tell me

What you can hear

And I will tell you where you are.

Do you hear the rumble of a train coming into the station?

Or perhaps the milling of a crowded street?

The trickle of water bubbling at a secluded stream?

The whispers of the subdued in a gloomy justice court?

The ticking of clocks in a quiet antique shop?

The laughter of children at play in the park?

The rattle of machine gun fire in a faraway country at war?

The loud voices of arguing men at a conference of extreme importance?

The hushed voices of an arguing couple?

Do you hear tears falling in the silence of a lonely ones room?

Can you hear the suppressed screams of the frustrated?

Do you hear the shy smiles of couples walking hand in hand?

Or a baby's first cry in the world? If you lean forward can you hear the waves crashing against a cliff?

Or the sun setting on the horizon of a sandy shore?

An orchestra's first nerve wracking concert at a theatre across the street?

A band's debut on national TV?

A small girl's first solo in her church choir?

An old man's last performance at an overflowing hall?

Perhaps you hear a winter chill crossing a snowy field

Perhaps it is the roaring of a hurricane raging the islands

Perhaps the drumming of native tradition that makes you want to dance

Perhaps the muffled blare of headphones on the head of a young man

Perhaps the tapping of the foot of the misunderstood young man

Perhaps the ranting of his father who does not understand

Or is it a softer murmur of a mothers soothing voice

A lullaby she sings to her precious child

It could even be your own voice

As you speak out to the world

You tell them

Go on and convey

All that you have ever heard

And when you yourself have spoken

And you hear your own voice

You have arrived at the beginning

Of the change you sought to see.