Name Tag (Empty Whispers) Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

This name tag worn to wear.
Has little to do,
With what it has taken...
For you to notice,
My comfort of it.

Empty are your whispers.

I have heard it stated,
A name tag represents...
Definition of a meaning meant.
Like an assignment,
To something designed.
As if the doing of this,
Qualifies purpose.

Empty whispers validate,
Available vacancies.
And a dusting of unused space.

A name tag to have,
Is like a label to adorn.
But represents not,
Who it is that feels...
The giving to it a dignity.
Significance and pride.

Empty whispers,
Are often shallow and dense.
Void of thought.
And absent is common sense.

This name to bear,
And tagged with consent.
Would have never been known...
To condone,
If time had been wasted...
On assumptions.
Or comparisons others take,
To contemplate...
In their empty whispers,
Who it is with a name to know.
Not to know at all.

Empty whispers will always be,
What is represented,

To have heard but not, Observed...
Shown to see.
And yet embellished to believe.
For those seeking,
A name to call...
Their reason and purpose,
Suitable enough to fit.