Speaking The Language Of Whatever Was Poem by Dónall Dempsey

When I was a child
I talked to everything
never questioning
its ability to talk to me.

“Hello man...hello sky...hello tree! ”
Open to everyone
as weather was.
I talked to a stone
stone to stone.

I talked to water
as water
Speaking the language
of whatever was.

Now as a man
silent & taciturn
I try to learn again
the language of stone
the speech of rain

the laughter of water
& most of all to listen
when they talked to me.