Of Silence

 

This blank sheet of paper on which these words

Appear is a metaphor for silence.

Make these words disappear and be aware

Of the white silence around them.  Let rhyme

Enter in, hereon, a twirling baton

Tossed at the head of a strutting parade.

Can you keep your distance?  Or are you caught

By the sounds, the trumpets, the drums and feet —

All the excitement of a masquerade?

 

I’ll fish by a stream, alone, surrounded

By nature’s multitudinous wonder

And feel the miracle when there’s a tug

At the end of my line.  When I am gone

Into the great silence beyond my words —