Ego & Wisdom Poem by Suzette Richards

‘The ego shouts, but wisdom whispers.' —A Zen philosophy.

The weaver bird screeches without pause in the tree,
trying to convince a mate to move in.
I slam the window shut on the noise.
His ego bruised and in pure disgust,
he rips apart the nest that took a whole day to build.
Raising one's voice has never won an argument.

A whispering voice draws people in,
fragments or whole thoughts shaped by time—
wisdom distilled from discarded ego.
I open the window to a world misunderstood,
gathering the brittle twigs of tolerance, convinced
poetry is born in the pauses between spoken words.