A billion text message
will be sent today.
Gather them together
and weigh their worth.
What has been said, really?

The next text you send,
let it have meaning.
Your next post to Facebook–
wait until you're ready to speak
some measure of truth
deep from the heart.
Your next tweet–
let it be substantive.

Clear the clutter!
End words without purpose!

The monk in his cell,
huddled in the cold,
working by the light of a candle,
blowing warmth into his stiff fingers–
do you think the letters he carefully copied read,
"I'm at Starbucks. Where R U?"

Emily Dickinson,
gazing out at the garden
from her bedroom writing table–
what did she write?
"Just had chicken salad. Yummy!"

You have one brief lifetime
in which to be heard–
make every word worth worth savoring.

Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.