Earthwise
God, it seems
You’re quiet
While outside there’s noise
The promise of a storm
You could be speaking through
The storm, I guess
I’ve never known you that way
Though there are limits
On my listening
Maybe if I were shaman-wise
I’d understand your language
In the trees
And through the rain
And if the thunder means
You’re angry or
You’re sad or making declarations
Or nothing of the sort
Since I’m sure
The flowers speak as well
As all things
On their own
You split the sky
The earth rises
Smaller creatures scurry
They know where
We’re here, and
We don’t understand
All that would be given
If we didn’t try
To take it first
God, this is
A prayer
For peace among ourselves
So we might get
The message sent
That everything and
Everyone has voice
Especially the quiet
And with our senses
And with more
We might receive the word
That starts
The universe
And also
Brings us home together
C L Couch
Photo by Glenna Hopper on Unsplash
Isle of Sky
June 3, 2020 at 8:57 pm
Exactly, Christopher. God speaks in the quiet of our heart. Some more of St.John of the Cross below.
One dark night
Fired with love’s urgent longing
I went out unseen
My house being now all stilled.
June 4, 2020 at 8:52 pm
Thank you, Len, and for the passage. Its tone is meaningful and homey.
June 4, 2020 at 12:29 pm
If, with all your willingness you have to listen so hard and still hear nothing, and if we need interpreters for what we think we hear, I wonder if anyone is speaking at all. We all really know what is ‘good’ and ‘bad’, even the people who wave bibles at white supremacist rallies, but bad suits them better. What do we do with people who do evil and claim it’s good? If the handbook and the interpreters get it so terribly wrong, who is there to listen to but nature and some residual humanity?
June 4, 2020 at 8:58 pm
My, that is astute:”but bad suits them better.” They know they’re bad, but the attention and the ratings and the profit is better in being bad. This is a time in which evil plans are realized, and we’re told they’re good. We’re told that evil is good. No wonder listening is a fractured skill and also a skill (a choice) that is not prized. In answer to all this, I think you’ve said it in the question; “nature and some residual humanity” still are listening.
June 4, 2020 at 9:06 pm
I know they are. The divide and rule practice always works, but it doesn’t make the other opinion go away.
June 5, 2020 at 6:20 pm
If only we could listen to that still deep part within us, that voice that pleads for sanity, love and unity. I agree with Jane’s comment: “bad suits them better.” They’d rather not listen to that still, quiet voice, but make their own egos overpower the whisper they don’t want to hear. Because at heart I believe all people have the potential for good, if only they’d listen.
June 5, 2020 at 6:39 pm
We all can listen, even if it’s a matter of more than having ears. I know this because I’ve encountered extraordinary listening in and from deaf people. There is some choice involved. Egos tend to drown out other voices. And there are some who don’t want to hear any other voice than their egos’ own. There are some for whom I’d appreciate tape over their mouths, which still wouldn’t mean they’d listen, though I’d appreciate the quiet for a while. But I was wondering about egos–hey, can they be taped over, somehow?
Thank you, Cathy. Your comments are balm.
June 6, 2020 at 8:15 pm
I like this. Taping over someone’s mouth definitely doesn’t mean they’d listen, but I agree, the quiet would be nice!