-- Music of the Spheres --

   John Herlihy

The spheres of the universe

Move in a series of concentric circles,

Intertwined within one another.

The friction created by this motion

Generates a sound moving outward.

Sometimes, on a very quiet night,

As you gaze into the night sky,

And listen very carefully,

The sound apparent to our human ears,

None other than the music of the spheres.

Rhapsodies generated by the circular motion,

Harmonies captured in the canals of eager ears.

This the sound of silence I hear, who knows?

Possibly the silence of sound we could suppose.

No one truly knows, but the heart knows clear.

I listened most carefully as tender silence held dear.

When suddenly, there in the moonglow of night, sound

Deep in the hush of night, paradisal melodies abound

The music expands the infinity of the universe,

As if time finally stands still in the eternal moment.

As if a veil has been lifted for me to see through.

What do I see: nothing, but I hear everything.

We have filled volumes with facts of the creation,

And scratched but the surface of what we don’t know.

How pale and tedious the world without nature’s beauty.

How coldly remote the heavens without its enduring mystery.

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Copyright © John Herlihy

Thursday 16 March 2023