
There’s really no getting around
The fact that you are not listening—
Especially since what I’m trying
To talk to you about right now is
The fact that you are not listening.
I have always loved the land
And am grieved to this day
That I must live smothered
In the soulless city.
And still there lingers the hope
However faint
That somehow
It will be made right
Some time before I die.
But either way
I still hope for a place in
That country not my own
Which shall be better still by far.
I do not believe that
A thousand preachers
Having set out to use the Bible
To change this ailing world
Could extract from its pages
Even a tenth of the treasure
That can be extracted by
One man listening
Intently to what it says
Simply because he wants
To understand his Master.
The motive for reading affects
The message received.