Words Are Windows (Or They’re Walls)

I feel so sentenced by your words
I feel so judged and sent away
Before I go I got to know
Is that what you mean to say?
Before I rise to my defense,
Before I speak in hurt or fear,
Before I build that wall of words,
Tell me, did I really hear?
Words are windows, or they’re walls,
They sentence us, or set us free.
When I speak and when I hear,
Let the love light shine through me.
There are things I need to say,
Things that mean so much to me,
If my words don’t make me clear,
Will you help me to be free?
If I seemed to put you down,
If you felt I didn’t care,
Try to listen through my words
To the feelings that we share.

– Ruth Bebermeyer
(from the book Nonviolent Communication – A Language of Life)

Another sharing here about walls and windows found in The Sunday Star (Nov 8, 2009) on Berlin Wall:

WALLS are tricky things,” muses Goethe-Institut’s Communications and Internet Staff department head Prof Dr Michael Jeissman.

“The walls of your home protect you from harm and intruders, but they could also serve to isolate you from what’s outside.”