Group Observation Performed By One

To observe is to see as clear

As an sunny summer day.

To listen for details constantly

Helps to hear what they don't say.

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To hold back words

From your own lips

And listen for others

Where poison drips.

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To understand relation

Between members of a group,

And listen for the track

As it plays in a loop.

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From happiness so light,

To an animosity dark.

A careless wandering fish,

To a prowling shark.

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To see the crack in the mask;

The twitch that jerks the eye.

To see aversion to direct contact;

All tell-tale signs of a lie.

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I have found that by hanging back,

You're less likely to burn.

I have found that the less you say,

The more you tend to learn.

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I try to watch every move,

And observe every action;

To never speak personally,

But to watch your own reaction.

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To anger some lash out,

To lies some tend to whine.

It doesn't matter what I see;

I'm learning, so I'm fine.

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Leave me to my perch right here

In a solitary corner of the room,

Watching others talk and talk,

Chatting to their own doom.

*

Let me watch the emotion roar

As words are turned to knives.

Let me watch the insults grow,

Itching at the mind like hives.

*

I'll watch as feelings change;

The effect is universal.

It all feels so predictable,

It's almost like a rehearsal.

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She spits, they hiss, all of them bite,

He moderates, but they ignore.

Back and forth nonstop, I tell you;

It's become quite the bore

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I learn from this, from their mistakes;

Learn how to start and prevent a riot.

The most valuable thing I learned, however,

Was how and when to be quiet.

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See, I think people talk too much

Without heed to what comes out.

This either leads to awkwardness

Or scratch, yowl, hiss, and shout.

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Glance at my silence,

Like a shadow passing by

Barely ever making a sound;

Makes you wonder: Why?

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Try it once, it's kind of fun

To see it all unfold;

It's educational to listen

Without speaking or being told.

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To hear the chimes of voices;

To listen as words rot;

To lean back and say nothing,

And hear many a thought.

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You think it strange I sit alone

And watch everything you do.

That's fine because, in the end,

I probably know more than you.