When You Listen to Someone

    By Kaveri Patel

when you listen to someone

look deep into their eyes

into the sky as clouds part

for the first rays of hope

or a brewing storm before

the first droplets of tears

when you listen to someone

watch their lips closely

a perfect heart of pink flesh

opening

to reveal inner cobwebs

spun into fine silk when heard

when you listen to someone

hear your own heartbeat first

how it quickens when you’d rather

be elsewhere, how it syncs to

the sound of their voice

as their story becomes your own

© 2011 Kaveri Patel

Kaveri Patel loves to write. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys mindfulness meditation, yoga, parenting, singing, the ocean, family medicine, and spending time with her wonderful family. She won third place in the 2011 international Spirit First poetry contest for her poem “Forgiveness.”  Her work is forthcoming in Buddhist Poetry Review.