Be Yourself

Silence burns because it keeps us sane

enough to listen with expectation

to the quiet music of a lived life's river

and is banished from the traveler's story

by insistent thoughts that echo and rebound

down hushed, clip-clop streets at sunset.

 

Each noise - thunderclap or whispered love -

is invaded, shamed by black memories

of what we must say but now cannot;

until all is drowned by a passing car.

It is silence that allows us to hear

and accept the nature of our souls

slowly fading.

 

The music of silence is the sound of souls breathing,

the slow, strong cadence of vigorous hearts beating

in the tumult of its living, until we set down our burden

to lay, finally, down and listen to the song of silence.

In a moment you can set sail on a rough and dangerous ocean,

one that leads to a magical continent of discovery.

It is the world of the didact.

It is the world of one's self.