A Word To The Wise

Listen carefully and become
wiser than you feel yourself to be.
Repeat these words and remember them:
Silence is Golden - for indeed, it is.
Relieve yourself of the flattering
impression that you have been turned
to as a source of comfort and advice.
Comfort, yes; advice, no. You have
been chosen in lieu of a blank wall,
to listen without response. Unlike
the wall you may murmur utterings
identifiable as non-neutral understanding
and unqualified support, nothing more.
Advice is forbidden, lest you peer
beyond the singular artifice of the
complaint to find yourself in
judgement - so then - abstain.