We Need These Silences

Photo credit: earl53 from morguefile.com

the spaces that lie

between moments of sharing,

those times when it is

enough to feel the presence

of the other, the knowing

that this silence, too,

is a gift;

the silence of the mountains

or the dark forest,

or the plains at night,

reaching out to touch

some part of us

that craves time alone;

the moments before sleep,

or after waking, when the world

rises or falls into order,

finds shape and meaning

of its own.

We need these silences

as we need the words

we must first learn to say

and then forget

as we come to know

silence.

~ Glen Sorestad