Silence, so it’s been said is golden
I say silence is a sculpted masterpiece
delicately held–shaped and embraced
by the hands of souls who seek peace

Silence resonates at the front doors of our hearts,
smiling, opening clogged veins and arteries that
otherwise would stay plugged, surrendered
in commonality and frivolity

Silence is rain–sometimes it drips just
enough to wet our thoughts and bring them
under subjection–sometimes it pours hard,
drenching all of our ragged and fringed directions,
setting our feet solidly straight in the path of rightness,
erasing the fluff of our doings and musings

Silence is the dance I dance early in the wee hours
right before dawn brings up her eyes, holding the
world captive; I reach for her, silence; I hold her, silence;
long, introspectively driven, stillness becomes king,
openness bows to the space in time, refreshing arises

Silence crowns my legs as I swing them, hanging out and
over the long, wrap-around, white southern porch; I dangle
there catching the crumbs left in the messages;
awe but I’m ready now to reach for that tall cup
of Louisiana black Community coffee, a long held tradition
in silence; but silence still beckons one last time, pondering
the details, the unfinished business of the day while the cicadas’s mating calls echo through the morning fog, shrilling out love songs

Silence penetrates
silence illuminates
silence elevates
silence concentrates
on true purpose
enlightens minds
silence is a friend

Silence takes me to a place far beyond the hearing,
far beyond the listening, to the center, to the place
where words cry out, catching on fire;
I surrender to it; to its understanding; to its infinite
wonder and beauty it offers up
silence knows her own

copyright June 2004