Jan 17 2007
Thoughts of Silence
Silence is something that has been thrust upon me especially in the early waking hours prior to my son waking for school.
Silence has been a challenge for me in addressing the grieving process and a huge blessing. In the past, silence was a space between happenings that I sought — sometimes fought — to fill. Now I consider silence as a grace and quite curative, if I am still.
The following poem I wrote in this idyllic location where I reside where Great Blue Herons visit regularly– no such experience growing up in the Bronx, New York, though the Bronx Zoo was not too far distant..
Thoughts Of Silence
That Great Blue Heron is back
Preening herself on the piling.
She is as quiet and thought rapt
As the onlooker – gray dawn fading.
There’s times when silence is
Especially piercing – no words yet spoken –
When the inner presence, ever vigilant,
Emerges and subsumes mind-cackle,
A guide, this quiet one, to the water’s edge within,
Down deep, ever deeper, where ripple-free currents
Transport the willing deeper still to a place
Where love flows undiluted by words.
It is not long – just an eternity –
That sound-pings call them to the surface.
Mundane tasks await attention,
Like plumb-lines measuring depth.
Each dive to sound heart rhythm
Emboldens exploration of regions
Most remote where treasures lay
Amidst such thoughts of silence.
