Loving Speech

after Thich Nhat Hanh

We speak all day –
through screens,
through messages,
through the noise
of being connected.

And still,
we can be lonely.

Words can wound,
or they can water flowers.

A kind sentence,
a gentle reply,
even a letter
never sent,
can soften
something inside us.

So I sit
away from the screen,
and remember
the breath –
in,
out,
the quiet conversation
beneath all the others.

Nothing to prove.
Nothing to answer.

Only this moment,
and the possibility
of choosing words
with care.

That night
I fell asleep listening.

In the morning
I woke
feeling lighter,
as though somewhere
in the dark
something had been
quietly watered.