Remind Yourself Song
(to the tune of Muss ’i Denn)
Listen well, listen well to all your clients tell, All your clients tell, Warm attention to everything they say. Don’t advise, don’t comment, Even with the best intent, with the best intent, What you say will get in their way. If you listen to them well, Then the discharge will come, And they’ll think for themselves all the way. Don’t advise, don’t comment, Even with the best intent, With the best intent, What you say will get in their way.
When their voices break or shake, That’s the phrase you have them take, Phrase you have them take, They need help for the tears to begin; But when discharge has begun, Quietly wait ’til it is done, wait ’til it is done, Then repeat their phrase and say “again.” When laughter, or trembling, or tears are at hand, They need your little push to begin; But when discharge has begun, Quietly wait ’til it is done, wait ’til it is done, Then repeat their phrase and say “again.”
To persist, to persist, that’s the way you assist, The way you assist. That is one thing they cannot do alone. When their story is through, you request it anew, Request it anew, Even though they’re sure that they are done. It takes a hundred recountings With discharge to clean up each one. When their story is through, you request it anew, Request it anew, Even though they’re sure that they are done.
Your reward, your reward is not long deferred, Not long deferred, A lovely human mind set free. Intelligence clear of sorrow and fear, Of sorrow and fear, Is a mighty pleasant sight to see; And best of all you get your turn To have warm attention, you see, And when discharge is through to again be really you, Again be really you, And live the way life ought to be.
From pages 124 to 125 of Zest Is Best
(Present Time 198, January 2020)