Voices

What are we if we do not speak,
if our voices cannot be heard,
offering as they do our own meagre
truth, and perceptions which can

come from no other and which
are all we have to hand to another;
hoping only that we can be heard,
even if the words are not welcome?

I ask only that you defend my right
to speak, and allow yourself to
listen, if just to acknowledge that,
like you, I am also here, learning.