Danzanravjaa

I dreamed
a smile long gone
next to my pillow
the moon

- Excerpt from a Mongolian haiku by the Noyon Khutugt Danzanravjaa

Listen

She comes to see me in my tiny office. I don't have an extra chair to offer her so she sits on a small empty drawer desk. Her eyes drill into mine and her lips start moving, pouring words of anger and frustration into me. Her usual smile and cheerfulness leaves her heart. It is not at me she is angry but our ill-hearted bosses. She uses those words: ill hearted. I listen to her, keeping my mind empty and my heart cold. I cannot afford to fall into her drift of despair. I can only listen and utter small meaningless words. I know she doesn't care what I say or think about her predicament. She only needs someone to listen. I can only listen.