The Other Way to Listen

I used to know

an old man

who could

walk

by any

cornfield

and hear

the corn

singing.

"Teach me,"

I'd say

when we'd

passed on by.

(I never said

a word

while he was

listening.)

"Just tell

me

how you learned

to hear

that

corn."

And he'd say,

"It takes a lot of

practice.

You can't

be

in a hurry."

And I'd say,

"I have

the time."

(Baylor & Parnell, 1978, n.p.)