Stillness Poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar

You are alone when you’re with animals,
With birds, in the grove or near a river.
Only when you are with men, even one,
You aren’t alone and feel the pressure.

The silence you find when you are alone
Is not the silence that follows a storm,
Not the silence that falls in dawns or dusk
And not the one seen in the church or museum.

When you find yourself alone and aloof
Along the meadow, where the sheep would browse
Or along the brook, where sparrows would shoot.
Or on a rock by which would flow a brook

You will find such silence and will stand still
And that stillness will cleanse your soul and nerves.
It is good to be alone now and then.
In a solitude of tranquility.
21.07.2015