-- God’s Silence --

By John Herlihy

We complain about the silence of God;

We seldom account for our own silence.

Silence a reprieve that we most welcome;

We glad listen to the sound of silence.

Only silence from God? I say try listening.

We have eyes, but we do not always see;

We have ears, but we do not always hear;

We have hearts, but we do not understand.

Blessed are the blind who innerly see;

Blessed are the deaf who innerly hear;

Blessed the dumb who pray and praise;

The blessed touch of those who touch.

God speaks constantly and forever

Even when no one listens or hears

God is living, all seeing and hearing

We live in the echo of His word: Be!

God speaks the narrative of our lives,

To lay bare the essence of the heart.

Our own story would have no reality,

Without words of the one true Reality.

His command a silence of living reality;

When He says Be, it comes into being.

Universal law expresses singular totality;

Silence expressed as seeing and hearing.

Multiple signs of nature but God verses,

Poetic symbols as words with meaning.

All created things have their own voice,

Utter silences that speak, praise, rejoice.

Oceanic rhythms that forever ebb and flow;

Silent, invisible wind that may howl and blow.

The seasons inspire with their telltale signs;

Phrases of the moon as moods of our minds.

Blessed silence lies in the face of God’s words,

As dawn silence broken by the voice of birds.

Silence of the night bearing messages on wings,

Stars in the night sky whose spirit sweetly sings.

God’s silence replaces what the world contains;

In the voice of God’s silence such beauty remains.

In wandering a forest glade I hear a whippoorwill;

Nature’s holy sanctuary echoes God’s silence still.

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Copyright © John Herlihy

Saturday 18 August 2023