Conversation

Neither introvert nor extrovert
I have never made an effort
to avoid communicating
with others, although on
occasion brevity is best when
faced with those whose interests
fail to expand beyond themselves
and then one begins with a
'hello' with the intention of
considering that a sufficiently
expansive statement suiting
the occasion. On the other hand
much can be gained in the 
serendipity of encountering
those whose ease of expression
and warmth of humour warrants
attention as they launch into
a narrative whose line ranks
right up there with the fascination
inherent in reading a good book.
Courtesy in communication is a
given, of course, one whose
response can lead to patient
torment when the innocent 
enquiry leads to an agonizingly
protracted description of health
gone awry. And there are times
when the subject of a discussion
is a mutual acquaintance whose
privacy has been breached
so that when you finally part
with the sense that you'd far
rather not have known, leaving
you harbouring a lesser opinion
of the tattler, it is also with the
certainty that whatever you may
in an unguarded moment have
divulged of your own personal
weakness of character, it is
destined to be embroidered in
malice the better to ingratiate
himself with others avidly
receptive of denigrating opinion
absolutely unlike yourself.