When Human Silence Reigns, I Hear Whispers. Poem by Hana Banpaia

When human silence reigns, I hear whispers.
All things non-human begin to speak.
They haven’t spoken before because no one listened.
They tried to reach out to some but the noise blocked out the sound.
They sing lovely songs, the flowers.
Then the butterflies whisper tales of flying over fields and fields or roses, pansies, poppies, and daisies.
The large rocks speak in deep, earth moving tones while small flat pebbles speak of the stream with clear, crisp water.
The grass playfully bats at my ankles as the wind plays with my hair. Brooks like to talk about anything and everything.
Large, old trees creak and groan like old men but the saplings prefer not to speak.
Now though, the cars and buses and trains cause lamenting among the natural things.
The noise is once again blocking out their voices and now I cannot hear anything but the city, the city and my mother’s voice calling me home.