Reflections By The Bay

Wednesday, July 8, 2020

July 8, 2020

HEARING AID

He was getting much older –

and his hearing was getting much worse –

but what I wondered about was:

what would he be hearing if he heard?

I was hearing that he was losing it.

I was hearing that he was getting older.

And this was before his hearing was going –

before he needed a hearing aid.

He heard words. He said, “Yeah …. Yeah!”

But he was a literalist. He didn’t get under

words – behind words. He missed nuances –

symbols - but he showed up like Willy Loman ….

Like Willy Loman he had a right to be here.
He had a right to be heard – to be asked.

He was with us – and he has a vote.

By the way, “Who the heck is Willy Loman?”