Departures

Mary his wife could only hear she would never listen

John her husband would speak incessantly but never talk

Mary would have listened intently

If only he would have talked to her

He knew this was the reason she wasn’t listening

Mary and John went on like this year after year quite happily

She with nothing to say he with nothing to talk about

Until one day John met Jane

Jane listened to John he loved being listened to

He quickly fell in love with Jane

Jane fell in love with John

John left Mary to live with Jane

Jane loved to hear John talk

She went to great lengths

Ensuring she was able to listen to every word John uttered

The more he talked the more keenly she would listen

One day Jane decided she would like to talk to John

John heard Jane but failed to listen to a word she said

After a while Jane stopped talking to John

She began speaking instead

'Two can play at this game' thought John

He straightway began speaking loudly

Jane heard clearly and stopped listening

Jane told John to go away

John had not been listening so he left

John went back home to Mary

'Mary I'm home we need to talk'

'I'm not prepared to listen to you John’ said Mary

'Well,’ said John ‘I'll go elsewhere somewhere someone will listen to me’

John turned on his heel slamming the door hard behind him

Although they often talk about it to one another

That was the last Mary or Jane ever heard of John