Dedicated to world neglect of state violence in Sri Lanka

silence (II)

 

silence

like the still silence

of all movement frozen

by a young child straining to hear

its parents arguing

in the near distance

 

silence

like the drumming silence

of a mystic chanting herself

into a trance

 

silence

like the filling silence

of a cave in the foot of a tree

whose top the sky can’t see

 

silence

like the instant silence

of a flock of birds whose Northern summer

is swept aside swiftly

like the air by their wings

for another Northern winter

 

silence

like the active silence

of a boy catching sight of a bursting bud of jasmine,

drifting himself in between the slowly parting petals

and intensely scenting a tuft of air

 

silence

like the steady silence

of cars and four-wheel drives

jammed in city traffic at 6 o’clock am

 

silence

like the blustery silence

of winter snow

upon autumn winds

 

silence

like the earthy silence

of someone bowing in prayer

upon a mat of ground

 

silence

like the rapping silence

of voices inside

a schizophrenic’s mind

 

            *

 

In the art of mathematics

equations can be created

so that the extremes of one set

are the beginnings of another

 

As well there are realms

where sound becomes silence

and silence takes-on forms

These realms,

palpable

only if we recognize

the possibly moving but

positively minuscule

span of our bones

within the infinite

immensity of things.

 

from breathing for breadth (TSAR: 2005, pp. 112-113).

*photo by Salimah Valiani