• Because I come and read to you
    And tell you all about it,
    Your eyes blink, fascinated -
    You are a great listener:
    You nod and gasp and flinch
    When the hero announces himself -
    My rasp, the emergence of vowels
    Grasping onto consonants,
    Is easy and effortless
    Because of you.

    The story I share
    Is a drama, a famous one -
    With pauses and ellipses,
    With slurs, sarcasm, and finesse,
    All of which I convey,
    Across peaks and trenches
    Of cotton and stitching,
    Outlines of you, immersed,
    And voices, echoing, blending -
    My own.

    When the hero falls
    And darkness comes,
    We read on together
    Because not only do words carry,
    But thoughts ignite and ebb
    And form refinement and resolution.
    Curtains fall in heaps around us,
    And we realize:
    The hero is the one who listens,
    No matter how the curtains are drawn.