PR–185
The Volcano’s Deep Silence
Silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation.
–Jalal ad-Din Rumi
From my veranda I heard
The volcano’s deep silence
And an also deep blue sky
Translated it for me
So I turned
Putting me face to face
With the fierce summitry and I said
Come here and join me there
Is room on my veranda
For mountains
New PR–120
I Am Quiet and My Throat Is Very Dry
“Don’t say, don’t say there is no water
To solace the dryness at our hearts.
I have seen . . .”
–Denise Levertov (The Fountain)
I hear its coming
But I don’t want to wait for patience
I have heard
Its taps into silence
Some subterranean quiet
Where the pure well water
Rises like the sun
I stand with my bucket open
As I wait
For my eyes to be the same
But in my dream I ask
Why must I wait?
I am tired
Of just dreaming about the sunrise . . .
I do feel very thirsty
And finally I am quiet and
My throat is very dry
PR3–32
Its Component Parts: Silence and Love
Let me see your beauty broken down,
as you would do for one you love.
–Leonard Cohen (Take This Longing)
The mind complains for impatience
When instead it should welcome
The chance to go to Cinderella’s ball
And its ruby slippers are its desire to
Slow down to just inside the heart
Use the time to defuse the time:
Break it down to its component parts:
Silence and love
PR3–41
The Famous Chalice of Wedding Wine
Listen up
Drink from the cup of silence
That famous chalice of wedding wine:
These chances are precious:
Your feet are still
Stained with the grapes
PR3–46
Impatience Accuses God
Impatience is my constant study
Probably for my constant fascination
With the subject:
Talk about incongruity
Talk about mysteries
Why there’s a whole
Mystery series right there
(Lo de impatience)
But here’s my down low skinny:
Impatience has no reason to exist
But irony does because impatience
Accuses God of non-existence
But why then are there
So many saints and sages
So silent and smiling?
