In a world filled with too much noise and stimulation, distracting and seeking our attention… I share this poem with you as we enter the weekend.
May you find stillness and the will to silence to contemplate …
In Silence
Be still
Listen to the stones of the wall.
Be silent, they try
To speak your
Name.
Listen
To the living walls.
Who are you?
Who
Are you? Whose
Silence are you?
Who (be quiet)
Are you (as these stones
Are quiet). Do not
Think of what you are
Still less of
What you may one day be.
Rather
Be what you are (but who?) be
The unthinkable one
You do not know.
O be still, while
You are still alive,
And all things live around you
Speaking (I do not hear)
To your own being,
Speaking by the Unknown
That is in you and in themselves.
‘I will try, like them
To be my own silence:
And this is difficult. The whole
World is secretly on fire. The stones
Burn, even the stones
They burn me. How can a man be still or
Listen to all things burning? How can he dare
To sit with them when
All their silence
Is on fire?
~ Thomas Merton
© 2016 FlorenceT Copyright reserved. The author asserts her moral and legal rights over this work.
Being still – one of the deepest challenges of humankind, and yet, one of the most rewarding.
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I agree. 🙂
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Beautiful poem.. listen to your inner voice in silence.
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“Be silent and try to speak your name”
Beautiful lines ! 🙂
Hi welcome to my world of words
https://inkyquillblog.wordpress.com
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It is indeed. Thanks for visiting ☺
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