Quiet, Silence, Soudlessness Poem by Saiom Shriver

BIRD CHOIR

When more than 1 human
speaks at a time
is it cacophony..?
not if they are singing
in a chorus

When birds sing and frogs croak
.. by the babbling creek
and the wind
blows notes through
woodpecker carved flutes...
whose drilling has such
a peaceful sound...
some say....
harmony

FEAR NOT

We wish for a peaceful
quiet world
in which
no flea
need in fear flee
.. no fly
need in flight fly

POND PALATE

Fall trees
.. their pond reflections
are paintbrushes
dipped into the
pondpalate's rippling water
.. aswirl with colors
of crimson and pink
and gold and yellow
and orange
... the wind's rustle
and the splashing fish
only for a few moments
obscuring the
kaleidoscope

FRIGHTEN NOT THE LITTLE ONES

Some thoughts must be expressed
to be released.. put on paper..
so that emotions may flow
into release..
sometimes thoughts are so painful
that after written in the blood
of the past
they should be erased, burned,
torn up and flushed
as the sea
erases the scrawls
in the sand..
that their echoes
not others kill

NONVIOLENT WORDS

For many lives she
had expressed
anger with her fists..
but even now she
could see her angry
judging words..
becoming
others' fists..
and God whispered
to her..
that nonviolence in
thought and speech
is required of
aspiring pacifists.

DUSK HUSH

Gone the day's rush..
Gone traffic push....
Light scattered
by sunset paintbrush
.. Now valleys hush..
and the birdies shush.
the valleys hush..
and the birdies shush.

(to poet S Steigerwald)

POLARITY OF THOUGHT

One thought that in presenting
his opinions he would attract
those of like mind.
The other thought that
if he presented an idea he did not
totally live up to, he would
turn people away. If he did live
up to his ideal, his thoughts
would spread effortlessly.


MORNING HUSH

mist lies in parallel
layers under the clouds
as satin sheets
lie under cotton blankets

EVE ANGEL

Eve Angel does never
evangelize..
but who can hide
the Godlove in her eyes


SLOWING DOWN

We go by much too fast
the hidden gates to see
.. the quiet love..
silent caring
.. anonymous frequencies.

(to M Radney)

WIND FINGERS

The wind's fingers
stroke the tree harp
and the tree's green fingers
in turn stroke the wind.


SILENT THE SUN

Silent the Sun
Speechless the Sea
Quiet the
Tree of Quince
Nontalkative the nut tree
Incommunicado
the avocado
Nonloquacious
the wind

VOLUME CONTROL

Her kind smile to him
when he asked her to turn
down her radio..

melted his heart

SEEING RED

It was a gift to be able to see
auras..
Once when she saw red
she knew the woman who
was pouring out her soul
had had second thoughts
..
like a criminal angered
that he had confided
in a priest

but she resolved
to be as silent
as the sea
... the sea
which turns red
rivers of sound
into ultraviolet
jewels

SUN DOES NOT KISS AND TELL

The sun does not
kiss and tell
but how can the
tree of quince
hide
her new quints
in the dell?

(to John J Price and his
family)


SEAL OF CONFESSIONAL

The virgin nonvegetarian
and the nonvirginal vegetarian
both agreed
not to discuss
which animals
had in the past been chewed
..

for all are bound by
the seal of the confessional
of friendship


GURU RIVER

As a river carries
fish to the sea
does a guru carry
secrets
.. giving them
to God the sea

SHELLS SHED

As she shed
all her shells
and dove past
the shards
of seashells
into
the depths
from ocean shelf
she was shshshed
into shanti


STARTLING NO STARLING

Dawn's pastel stirring
heralds day, sun-starring
.. with His quiet ways
startling
no robin or starling


SILENT MUSIC

In a dream he said to me:
'I have never known a 3 string
guitar to be silent..'
as he pointed to an apricot
branch.. with 3 twigs..
each playing the music
of apricot making
***
LA SCALA

At La Scala, the opera house,
news that a diva is ill
and cannot appear.. causes
boos
Outside.. the stars play
their silent ecstasy

MOUSHIKA

The little moushika
in gnawing does
make musica.

BENEATH THE WIND


Beneath the wind
shivers the river
With lightbeam slivers
she does quiver


BUBBLES OF JOY

like joyspheres rising from a fountain
like moons being born of the sun
like round seeds floating in air
are the soul bubbles of God

IMPEACH

GOD does not preach
to the tree of peach
Without force..
Love He does impeach

POLYTONGUED FLAME

death by violence
is a hydra headed monster
with more tongues of flame
than Medusa's snake coils
or gossip
or fire

anyone who advocates
violence is a terrorist
who metastasizes the
hatred he fights with
hatred





ASIA

When one cannot speak
it is called aphasia
.. but silence caused by
ecstasy
... occurs more often
in Asia


SWORDS OF SPEECH

As I admired her gold squash blossoms
and sunshine yellow cucumber blooms
.. her pink! not orange tiger lilies,
pink! not whiteQueen Anne's Lace,
I made the mistake of praising her
Morning Glories along the fence..
calling her attention to the sweet vines
she considered sunveiling vines
.. and watched helplessly as she
killed them.

BAMBOO SHOOTS

It was not the willow
who whistled in the wind
but the bamboo shoots
.. empty of desire
they were God's flutes
They hoped the panda
bears would like
different foods.

CREATION SPACE

If you say it
he cannot.
Your speech
ties him in knots.
Your words
take up the space
the vacuum in which
his language is born.
Your spoken thesis
invites antithesis.
Your words are colors
blocking up the empty
canvass which invites
him to paint.

DAYBREAK DRINK

In the forest was a deer
maddened by thirst
but paralyzed by fear
.. afraid of mountain lions
he could not approach
the cool lake

The willow bent down
and in the water traced
his fingers with touch so slight
slighter than his touch was
tiny rippling wind sprite's
Slighter than she is the touch
of quiet
And non is quite as slight
as the touch of light
pon the face of night.

Now came a freedom from fear
for the gentle deer
who arched his neck
and humbly lowered it
to drink from master lake
his thirst pain to slake.

INTERTWINED

The ego is entwined
with the heart.
It is very difficult
to harm the ego
without hurting the heart.

LEMNISCATE

On the ice lemmings skate
leaving patterns
of lemniscate

but not too deep their etching
lest others from the icewater
them be fetching

SPARKLING STARS

Sparkling stars
speak not a word
but the loyal light
of their constellation
brings always
consolation

SLOWING DOWN

I drive more slowly
than before because
chipmunks,
skunks, the drunk
and lost monks
are likely to dart in front of my car

LAST WINTER

Last winter jeweled
snowflakes
aped the flat beetables
of Queen Anne's Lace
falling to the ground
with their muffling grace

DEPOSE

Who can depose
the silent rose?

THREE SQUARED

Three squared is nine
Sometimes obstacles
to communication
lead to higher communion





NIGHT PEACE

The sea is rhythmically snoring tonight
beneath a blanket of glowing moonlight.

TRUTH BOWS TO LOVE

Love is the highest form of truth
Truth bows in silence to the demands
of love

BASHO

Basho taught us
the pond has no
sound, no refrain
until violated.. by a stone
or frog.. or the fingers of the rain

THE SOUND OF ONE HAND CLAPPING

'What is the sound of one hand clapping'
Striking the waters, the waves are lapping

THREE QUIETS MERGE

3 quiets merge..
the silent snowsift
.. night's fall swift
and the stillness
of the wilderness.

ISLAND ISOLATION

Daily the rising tide
turned their high home
into an island.
Daily the ebbtide
made a bridge to the land.

GIFT FROM THE SKY OF GREY

How soft and swift
muffling snowflakes sift
onto deep drifts
and when melts away
the sweet sky's gift
it's seaward sent
by Mother Earth's thrift


RECALLING WORDS

A bullet fashioned from ice
can kill and melt in a trice
.. leaving no trace
of its icy lace

as cruel words
said in secret
can kill the heart of
another

God withdraw every cruel word
ever spoken.. now


PERFECT MIRROR

reflection so perfect
that the sky's waterweave
becomes
lily petal weave

JADE FINGERS

After the storm,
Mother Earth's ten million
jade pine needle
fingers are dripping
grace.

BREAKING PEACE INTO PIECES

One neighborhood carhonk
shocks hundreds of sleeping ears
One volley of hunter drums
sends thousands of birds away
terrorized

BIRD FLIGHT

bell tongs chime
.. bird flight time

QUIET RIVER

The river's glide
is almost as quiet
as the descent
of Spirit Power