This morning
birdsong filled the air
in a patterned chorus
raised above the grinding notes
of distant trucks on the highway
through it all,
a surprisingly distinct sound
the rasping dance
of two dry leaves
twining around one another
high on a branch
somehow differentiated from all else
as a unique note
in the symphony
I laid on my back on the rock
and looked up at the white clouds,
still against the morning sky
and black branches,
and felt between
sound
and silence.*
I originally wrote this poem after being in the woods one morning and becoming fascinated with the sound of two dry leaves dancing together on an oak tree. About an hour after that moment, I turned to the March 23 page of my Meditations for Living in Balance book and the quote of the day was this:
“To be able to listen to the silence is to be able to hear the infinite.”
–Anne Wilson Schaef
She goes on to say this
“Silence is almost a lost experience in today’s society. See if you can develop a way of listening to what is being said in such a way that nothing is required of you. Conserve your power.”
Bringing it back to listening to the leaves in the woods though, I would add that I find it vital to discover a way of listening to the world around you, as it is, in this exact moment.
And, that reminded me of a quote from one of my favorite books, Listening to the Oracle:
“Ancient people saw and heard oracles everywhere because they lived in an ensouled world. The phrase ‘ensouled world’ may inspire us today, but perceiving everything around us as truly alive, brimming with consciousness, intensely present, and gazing back at us is an experience of a different order. Few adults living in modern culture are able to sustain an ensouled relationship with creation for more than a few moments at a time…”
–Dianne Skafte
What do you hear?
(*the poem later appeared in my 2018 book, She Lives Her Poems)
