SILENCE
I’ve begun to realize that you can listen to silence and learn from it. It has a quality and a dimension all its own.—Chaim Potok, The Chosen
Two o’clock in the morning.
How silent is the room…
Just before a motorcycle roars,
Chopping the air into jagged chips of din
Thrown round and round a flywheel,
Spiraling into the orifice of the outer ear,
Noisy swirling water inside a gurgling drain,
Bowling ball rolling heavily down wooden planks…
Then it fades...
Sawdust bursting in air,
Settling, a fine layer of manna,
Powdery film on the workshop floor.
You cannot hear anything again.
Silence is thick bread—
It lies on a plate and makes a crusty whisper
Only if perturbed by buttering.
Solid door of heavy beams tightly riveted by iron knobs,
Slammed shut and bolted,
Sealed even in its tiniest crevices,
Stands guard at the portal to the strange habitation of another world.
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| White door—a symbol of silence |
NOISE
Soon silence will have passed into legend. Man has turned his back on silence. Day after day he invents machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation.
—Jean Arp, Arp on Arp
Construction is ongoing, banging away next door.
Metal clangs on metal, a pump machine loudly whirs.
Chop saws, screaming spirits, slice steel bars.
Sledgehammers thud solidly, breaking apart concrete.
Gravel fills apertures, ears, shuffling downward inside.
Dust and cement puffs, dry, burning in the sun,
Waft by, gray fumes at the volcano’s edge.
Mixers pour concrete, molten dough, into wooden molds.
Workers, perched birds, fashion steel bars into cages.
Walls grow layer by layer like a multistory cake.
Doors and windows appear as rectangular frames.
Jutting into the light, the first steps of a staircase ascend.
Drying walls glisten, soon to be lacquered with smooth finishes.
Day by day a building rises out of rubble, transforming—
A lady fastening a glittery brooch, a gentleman adjusting a silk tie.
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| Convergence (1952) by Jackson Pollock |
“Silence” was originally published in Boston Poetry Magazine (September 4, 2014).
ReplyDelete“Noise” was originally published in IthacaLit (September 27, 2014).
Gonzalinho
“White door” is a public domain photo.
ReplyDelete“White door” link: https://pixabay.com/photos/door-wall-architecture-doorway-4688648/
Images of works of art are posted on this website according to principles of fair use, specifically, they are posted for the purposes of information, education, and especially, contemplation.
The purpose of this blog is, among others, to advance knowledge and to create culture, for public benefit.
Gonzalinho
SILENCE OVER NOISE
ReplyDeleteSilence has always been essential to the spiritual life. It is in silence that we create space for God to speak, for our hearts to rest, and for prayer to deepen. But sacred silence is not just about personal solitude; it also invites us to rethink our daily interactions and the noise we ourselves provoke.
…There is a certain humility in quietness, an unspoken acknowledgment that we don’t always need to fill every gap with words -- or that we don’t really have anything relevant to share. In choosing silence, we offer space for deeper reflection, both for ourselves and for those around us.
…it’s about cultivating an attentiveness that listens more than it speaks. True silence is not merely the absence of sound; it’s the fullness of presence. It allows us to be attentive to the needs of others, to the promptings of God, and to the beauty of the world that often goes unnoticed, buried under layers and layers of chatter.
…this quiet attentiveness can be an act of charity. By embracing silence, we offer others the chance to speak, to be seen, and to be valued without interruption.
—Daniel Esparza, “Why it makes sense to choose silence over chatter,” Aleteia, October 23, 2024
Gonzalinho