Tuesday 13 November 2012

Day 144: Silence


Silence - it's an integral part of the human condition. Just listen. Can you hear it? It is not always there. It is special and rare. 

Sometimes full of fear, expectation, and sometimes, full of peace.  When it comes to writing, it is both an aid and an incredible weight. 

And when it comes to reading, it is a synchronized silence that allows us to hear better. - Listen to the silence as you read this poem, for poems silence the hectic rush of thoughts in our mind, if only for a moment, so they can bring us back to the centre of what's important.


Silence - Billy Collins

There is the sudden silence of the crowd
above a player not moving on the field,
and the silence of the orchid.

The silence of the falling vase
before it strikes the floor,
the silence of the belt when it is not striking the child.

The stillness of the cup and the water in it,
the silence of the moon
and the quiet of the day far from the roar of the sun.

The silence when I hold you to my chest,
the silence of the window above us,
and the silence when you rise and turn away.

And there is the silence of this morning
which I have broken with my pen,
a silence that had piled up all night

like snow falling in the darkness of the house—
the silence before I wrote a word
and the poorer silence now.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Esther, yes, I know me too! It's so necessary to creatives! (I blogged some quotes on solitude here you might enjoy: http://a-blog-of-ones-own.blogspot.ie/2012/07/solitude-writers-privilege-prerogative.html
    I love Billy Collins, he's such a great poet!

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