Time to Talk...or Not

Writer's Digest PAD Challenge day 20: For today’s prompt, write a poem of what goes unsaid. 

What a God-gift, time

What a scepter, speech

What a vexing fine-tuned line

Between learn and teach

Both monster and friend

Rests inside my cheek

Revealing the proof of them

By the words I speak

Tell me, tell me not

Sometimes the truth hurts

Yet, the world depends upon

Wise, well-chosen words

I have learned to laugh

Not where harsh words roar

But at childish honesty

Of a sage, just four

…pray, I'm not tongue-tied

Until you’ve gone away

When I wish for all those words

I didn't try to say

© Janet Martin