The second poem of the year is due today; the prompt was "slip." I usually prefer writing structured poetry with rhyme and rhythm, but this free verse almost wrote itself. 

Hear Me!

Silent I stand, the secrets of my heart aching for birth.

Tears slip from my eyes with the pain of yearning.

Until, mustering the last of my hoarded strength,

My thoughts, in paltry words too frail to bear the heft,

Pour from my mouth

And linger,

Hanging,

Floating,

Dissolving…

 

You tilt your head in puzzlement

Wondering what my words mean

And why they came dressed in tears.

“Hmmm,” you nod in feigned contemplation.

 

Then you lift your hand as if to dismiss the heavy words,

Now stale in the air between us.

Your eyes, and your heart, drift away,

Carrying you to another shore,

While I stand alone.

 

My heart’s message, still locked within,

Remains unheard -

An exile in want of an understanding ear.