Knowing Is Not Perception

Knowing Is Not Perception

I’ve known her - like forever,
But knowing is not perception.
Watching, as in a far-off place,
tears spilling from her eyes,
I wondered if I had ever
even tried to be so close.
I wondered,
Can we stand such familiarity in our
Narrow, self-centered world?

“Mother was alcoholic, and…
and…I didn’t really know what that meant
to me. Until just recently.”
This said at 56 years old.
“It changed us all, my brother, my sister
And me.
And when I saw her, down in Arizona
As she lay dieing – caught in the consequence
of her illness,
I couldn’t believe the pain I felt.”
Years later, here and now,
the tears still flow. Sadly,
A permanent part of her everything.
A permanent unknowing.

She wiped them away and I listened.
Bless my heart, I listened! I didn’t offer solutions,
I didn’t offer advice – for once in my selfish life,
I just listened.
Can we stand familiarity in our
Narrow, self-centered world?
Can we ‘just listen’?
Can we bear to hear the ‘unknowing’ of our friends?