The Great Silence Poem by Abraham Sutzkever

In the Sinai Desert, on a cloud of granite
Sculpted by the Genesis-night,
Hewn of black flame facing the Red Sea,
I saw the Great Silence.

The Great Silence
Sifts the secrets of the night.
Unmoving, its thin flour falls on my brows.
Silently, whispering,
I ask the Great Silence,
If I could I would ask more silently:
How many stars did you count
Since your beginning, since your hovering steady
Over the Genesis-night facing the Red Sea?

And the Great Silence replies:
When I shall count it all —
From nothing to the very first thing,
Then, son of man, I shall tell you first.

1979