There had been
A microphone hidden
Beneath the bed
Of course I didn’t realize it
At the time & in fact
Didn’t know for years
Until one day a standard
Khaki book mailer
Arrived & within it
An old
Stained cassette tape
Simply labeled in black marker
“Him / Me / September 1975”
& as I listened I knew something
Had been asked of me
Across the years & loneliness
To which I simply responded
With the same barely audible
Silence that I had chosen then