It's Personal

When I have an urge to betray a confidence, to gossip, or to tell something extremely personal to a total stranger, I stop and "Think." ~ Courage to Change, page 16

I was twenty, the first time alone
away from family and dormitory.
Each week I was fed by a family,
part of the congregation of the church
where I worked. By the time the summer job
had drawn to a close, I was glad to leave
for I had spewed my secrets, my heart,
to everyone I'd met. Thinking back
I wanted nothing of the people
who knew my worst, my most personal
thoughts and deeds.

Forty years later I'd learned little
of discretion. The secret I shared
was not my own but that of someone else
and I a gossip, telling the tale to show
my long-suffering, my cross to bear,
my affliction. It wasn't my secret to disclose.

My secrets and more so those of others
don't need to be told to strangers.
Sometimes to a few, trusted, discreet,
available to counsel me, to ease my pain,
to advise my actions and guide me
I can tell the truths that nudge me.
But strangers I meet, casual acquaintances,
the public has no need to know.