And if you need to talk for a long time,
I can listen for a long time.
I can follow your face and voice
through the laughter, through all those
reflections and memories, down
to the place of tears, back out again,
if you want to keep talking.

I don’t need to say anything
till you’re really done,
and I can’t know what I’ll say
until we get there.
This is a safe place —
you can surely know
that I will hold you in compassion
through the whole anguished tale,
I will hold steady
and yes, I will pray.

©Wendy Mulhern
June 16, 2016