INNER VOICES
By John Herlihy
* *
From silence unaware,
Voices appear into thin air,
Discordant and bickering,
Harsh and blistering,
Sweet and throaty,
Rich and smoky.
They then disappear
Without a care,
Back into the mind,
With emotions to spare.

We summon voices,
From deep within the heart,
Voices with whispered messages
That speak with fine art,
Other voices than in daytime,
Full of warmth and peace,
Voices that soothe and comfort,
Voices that wipe the heart clean,
Stillness in the heart that weeps,
Stillness that lies between the beats.

The infant child
Soon discovers its voice,
Cooing like a dove,
Crying like a lamb,
As silent as sleep,
As quiet as the deep,
In outer space,
In the abyss of the sea.
Whispered sounds,
Mystery abounds.

Children’s voices
Sing of happiness and joy.
Mud cakes and sand castles
Wrapped in ribbons and tassles.
They sound like trumpet blasts,
Their hopes and dreams amassed,
Until they go to school,
Where they recite the golden rule.
Their recital sounds like a solitary violin;
Their voices as modest as a humble pin.

The mother’s voice,
Piercing like a knife,
Cutting and insistent,
Charged with intolerable strife.
Those crazy wild children
There’s no letting up,
On and on with their squabbling
Will the children ever stop?
Listen: there are tears;
They lessen with the years.

Nature’s voice creates
The moodiness of sound.
The wolf howling as wind,
The wind howling as wolf,
The rooster sings his awakening songs;
At sunset birds chatter aloud in throngs.
The hurricane whines like an animal thru the pines,
Sounding like organ dirges inside human ears,
Seagulls squawk into the placid air,
With a message no one can bear.
Are they saying: I am here!
Or sounding an alarm: something is near?

The voice inside
Speaks only with few words.
They echo though the mind,
Like intimate birds.
The voice of conscience comes as a surprise,
Impulses arising without any guise,
Bad thoughts scattered like broken glass.
Human goodness shows itself,
With no special disguise,
Sounding quietly like delicate brass.

Nature’s silence whispers,
Endearing and kind.
She speaks like a lisper
Secrets of wisdom that bind;
Hush, and hush again.
My sweet innocent dove.
I am your sister
Like no one who has ever loved.
Childhood sees love awakening,
True sentiments, there for the taking.

Children of humanity!
Listen carefully thru your fears.
Outer voices speak of vanity;
They are voices of profanity.
Inner voices echo sanity.
They emerge thru sorrow and tears,
No one listens; no one hears;
We are alone through our joys and fears
But inner voices keep steady and whisper,
They serve us across the years.