Silence says so much... and sadly, silence doesn't always speak of love... Your words ring true in my experiences of the past few weeks, for there is so much value in the truths of what's past upstream that holds crystalline today... those truths and honest emotions are nuggets that shine. Unfortunately, in my recent experience, I have seen that sometimes the nuggets we found/find are really only fool's gold; and once the surface is scratched, there remains nothing but a stone beneath the fake shine upon its surface.

Cryssa

Kate, " Silence " is a comfort, a time to concentrate and believe...

Always,
Deborah

In this poem, silence comes hand in hand with serenity. It is not the anxious, heavy silent, but the silence that appeases, gives meaning, nourishes. A very organic description in this poem, Kate. I like the word "genuine" in this poem.

Axilea

Brilliantly shiny poetry!

Ragno

Only the truth and true ones can shine like this Kate. Stunning.

when emotions and events are to be weighed, values assessed and the heart is challenged to action, we engage in the act of outwardly appearing, "Silence" - every sense is on heightened alert and experiences to cope and analyze are engaged at warp speed -"Silence" is the room of emotional intensity we visit for council - I am taken in by the depth of the emotions in this metaphorical masterpiece Kate - I wish you love and peace my dear friend - Jon Michael

there is no such thing as silence if you think about it. Silence is a communication of.....many things. Like this write. ~ Morgan

strange how silence can be misinterpreted ... sometimes when silence shines space prevails ...

"prospect the genuine: gold
not fake nor fawning in
the tawdry bluff of fools."

powerful verse in a poem that shouts with verve, perspective and the skillful overlay of imagery and metaphor ... a golden nugget of pure poetry ...

I think you know your topic well, either you researched mining or know some one who knows about it, either way you brought this anaolgy to life. Great job Kate.
fee

what is real exists within the silence, most of humanity is too noisy to hear it...always love your poetic perceptions

Silence may be golden but I'd trade that Midas touch for a brass horn most days. Life is a score just itching for the right artist. Patrick

Your adjectives, metaphors and similes are singing in this one.

Ron

Wonderful and melodic!
"sieve its silt of slag and dross" is a favorite line, but there are many.
It's a place of deepest emotions and it's where we can choose, like choosing light and joy over everything else. Hmmm, and silence is where you know that faith and love are everything.
Love,
Christine

Some of my favorite moments ever were filled with silence, and so much of the nuggets you speak of. There's so much noise outside our minds, that really, it's in silence we can make sense of all the noise inside--plumbing the ringing depths. I especially love your illuminated lakes of future. Can't wait to read the next one. --Charlie

Love, truth and beauty illumines lakes of future
holds crystalline stillness sings silence is.
Unique trilogy Kate.

Lady Mary Ann

...out of stillness born of solitude comes the wisdom transcends the age, and in the contrast of symphonic crescendos rests the the beautiful love of truth. Your poem is saturated with the sense of insatiable satiety that I call perfect peace as it comes dripping low with the brightness of those 'ringing depths' of which you so eloquently speak. You not only plumb near the mark, you have pierced its epicenter with your 'trained-eye stillness'... it humbles me to be in the company of such greatness, and that's no "tawdry bluff"... and I'd have to echo Jerry's choice of 'choice' lines... those three are the 'love' of your poem... Shine on, you crazy diamond!

You powerful images serve to emphasize the theme expressed via your verses, Kate. It has been said that "silence is golden" and there must be a reason. ☺ Thank you, Kate. Love and best wishes,

Regis

I like to read it, but guess I've not got the intelligence to decifer its meaning, but will keep trying...e

Kate,
A finely crafted blend of physical and metaphysical, eureka.
Budd

Therein lies the answers to ones perplexities. Silence twice a day and the riches are more worthy than gold or diamonds. Diamonds are just old coal. Peace perfect peace is worth more than any dead rock.
Indeed, be like water my friend, be like water. xxx

Great imagery, your words pan out from beginning to the end, unique in the silence of 'golden'
Blessings,
Christine

Gold dust is common but a nugget is rare. This one weighs in, Kate, nineteen times heavier than any other metal, gold is AU! Fools gold comes in all forms and iron pyrite is the devil's tool to lure us by deceiving, the ripples in the water aren't really fish biting at all but dredges vacuuming the silt making murky for a bit to cover up laundering schemes that all comes out in the wash and the water returns to crystal clear. The gold? Somebody's got the real deal! Love to read a good trilogy...

Love,
Sage

Silence is golden, Silence shines like a golden nugget...awesome metaphor.. Love, truth and beauty dwell within your "Shine" trilogy.
Cannot wait for the third part.

You are on a roll, Miss Kate, keep um coming...

Shine on, listen to the silence and absorb the beauty of love.

Peace, love and light,
Amber

Love, truth and beauty require all you have posited here, but also the trilogy inherent value of mind, the empirical knowledge that allows so much of the heart to live outside the influence of "those' and "that" which would enslave its intrinsic value with nonsense guised as platitudes of unchallengeable/sanctimonious opinion. As your piece adroitly proffers, without our sentient ability to pan for truth (an ability that is ignored by most, relying instead on lessor means of "knowing")we condemn ourselves to a very backwards-evolutionary existence, right alongside our ancestral lineage of foul and beast.

"puts value on what’s past upstream,
holds crystalline today and
illumines lakes of future."

Fan-TAS-tic are these three little lines. They say it all. Everything which is valid and valuable is included in these three superb lines, Kate. The rest of the poem is stand alone in their own right, but you hit pay dirt with these three. Eureka!