Silence

Silence makes the heart grow fonder. Silence is always a balm for the soul. The noise of any day, whether the noise of traffic, the hum of my refrigerator or the wild chatter in malls at Christmas time. As noise escalates, my level of annoyance escalates. Any fondness I felt for my fellow human beings fades and is assimilated into the steady hum and throb of city noise when I step outside on a crisp winter day in the countryside far away from highways and malls, my heart breaths a quiet sigh of relief. Relief that feels like a constricting blanket has been removed and yet, in the cold, I huddle closer into my warm fleece coat and mitts. Birds fly bravely in the blue sky just as I have bravely stepped into the silence of the prairies in winter. I can forgive and forget all the noises we humans make in our loving and living. I can rejoice in the grandeur that is blue sky and broad prairie or granite mountains and tall pines. I can listen more closely for the tiny snap of dry twigs, a distant twitter of birds, the scratch of a squirrels claws on frozen tree bark. Yes, silence does make the heart grow fonder and more aware.

“…..there are times when silence is a poem.”

~ John Fowles,  The Magus