The Voice of Silence

I heard the voice of silence
Speak
So clarly, it startled
Me.

Like a downy whisper
It swaddled
My form with flawless
Sound.

The silence called my name
Aloud.
I felt the powerful thrust,
Its vaporous presence
Manifest.

I heard the silence vibrating
Within me
With symbols unwritten,
Of melodies, yet
Unsung.

Like a symphony of words
Unspoken,
I heard the sound of stillness
In the tempest's
Eye.

I could hear the silence yet,
Its timbre, unfamiliar,
I did not
Recognize.

So I raised my eyes to Heaven,
Searching, asking,
A voice so real, yet it startles
Me -- Why?

Night fell upon that prayer,
And a moonbeam
Blessed
My sleep.

I was weightless, gliding,
Lighter than clouds,
My essence, at last,
Released.

And when I rose,
Sun kissed dewdrops
Blesed me
With their smile.

And again, I heard the silence
Speak
No longer outside me,
But from within:

"I am the silence," He said
To me,
"The interval between
Each verse,

But the voice, to you,
Unknown,
The muted, unwritten words,
The sound unspoken,
Is yours."

Carmen Ruggero .2003