Summary: Please Listen !
The speaker, probably a teenager, is talking to someone close — perhaps a parent or a friend. Each time the speaker asks to be listened to, the other person does something else: gives advice, explains why the speaker should not feel that way, or rushes to solve the problem.
The speaker says that none of this is what was asked for. Arguing against someone's feelings hurts them, and trying to fix everything makes them feel let down.
Advice is cheap and easy to find, says the speaker — newspapers are full of advice columns. The speaker may be discouraged and unsure, but is not helpless. When others do things the speaker can do alone, it only increases the speaker's fear and feeling of weakness.
If the listener simply accepts the speaker's feelings, even unreasonable ones, the speaker can stop defending them and start understanding what lies behind them. Once that is clear, the answers become obvious.
The speaker suggests that prayer helps some people because God stays silent and lets them find their own way. The poem ends with a fair request: just listen now, and when it is your turn to talk, I will listen to you.
Key points to remember
- Author: unknown (the book prints 'Author Unknown')
- Form: free verse — no fixed rhyme, rhythm or stanza length
- Style: colloquial, like someone talking directly to a friend
- Theme: the value of truly listening; respecting a person's feelings and independence
- Hearing is just receiving sounds; listening means paying full attention with care
- The speaker does NOT want advice, arguments or problem-solving — only to be heard
- 'Advice is cheap' — advice columns in newspapers give it to everyone for a few cents
- The speaker is discouraged and faltering but 'not helpless' — confident of improving
- Irrational feelings make sense once we understand what lies behind them
- God helps by listening silently and letting us work things out ourselves
- The speaker promises to listen in turn — listening is two-way
