<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="gmail_default"><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(32, 32, 32);" class="">Willing</span><font class=""></font></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(32, 32, 32);" class=""><br class="">Let me listen.<br class="">Let me not know what to say.<br class="">Let me receive the world<br class="">as it slurs and shrieks,<br class="">hums and whispers,<br class="">speaks and bleats.<br class="">Let me lean ever closer in.<br class="">There are walls I have built<br class="">in my ears. There is so much<br class="">I would rather not hear.<br class="">Let me listen.<br class="">Let me receive with wonder.<br class="">Let all be worthy of note.<br class="">Let me be witness, eavesdropper,<br class="">spy.</span></div><span style="color: rgb(32, 32, 32);" class="">Let me never pretend<br class="">to be deaf.<br class="">Let the world slip into me<br class="">and change me<br class="">as light changes a room.<br class="">Let me be silent, let me listen,<br class="">and in listening,<br class="">let me be new.</span> </div><div class="gmail_default"><br class=""></div><div class="gmail_default"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32);" class="">- Rosemary Wahtola Trommer</span></div><div class=""><br class=""></div></div></body></html>