Empty Chair by Rachel Maree Matheson

Still and solid you were

When we meet in Mallee.

Rich, smooth, and lined

Are you to feel.

However, to see and hear,

Empty and desolate are you.

Why do you remain empty,

When I long to see?

I want to hear your voice,

Come hither to me.

But alas! Foreign and far,

You remain to me.

Empty and inanimate,

You do not grow.

Why do you not speak?

Are you afraid?

Perhaps you are ashamed,

of humanity’s disgrace,

and chose to remain still.

I wonder what you would say,

If you had your way.

Though try as I might,

Inanimate you stay.

Move! Move!

Speak! Speak!

Please tell us the stories,

of those we cannot meet.

But forever you remain,

Solid, still and empty.

You don’t move,

You don’t grow,

You don’t speak.

You don’t do anything,

But sit in place of those,

Who we’d rather hear speak.

But perhaps that this is your purpose,

To drive us mad with unheard stories.

You’ve won!

You’ve won!

Please let us be.