Solitaire

"'From this moment on, now and for all seasons, I am released into silent restfulness, where time rests in eternity.' After saying these things, Mary settled into silence, for it was in silence the Teacher had spoken to her.”
~Gospel of Mary Magdalene

Silence in the spiral song
of the Townsend’s Solitaire,

axis that pierces all creatures
before the Word.

Silence between piano notes
drifting over the roses
from the house next door.
Silence of my hardly having spoken
to the lady who lives there
since the death of her mother.
Silence of mist over the bay

where sea lions bask and bark

on a buoy three miles out.
Black silence cleaved
by owl wings at midnight.
Silence over the battlefield

just after the battle,

where a hand rises, then falls,

a leg twitches in a dream of running.

Is there not a great silence,

a great stillness all around the battle,

even while it rages?

And here, whatever the hour,

a great silence in the cloister of stars,

the vast listening that awaits
your prayer?


Photo: Townsend's Solitaire, eBird