Listening to the Silence

I cannot say that all thoughts that come to me now are entirely rational. I read, do online crossword puzzles, e-mail… just to keep my brain active. But there is another part of the brain that is working too, sending me images and mysterious messages. Over a year ago, I saw images of death in the form of black birds falling dead from the sky. And a dark specter beat and flung itself at my closed door. At the time, I saw no danger to myself… only a foreboding about what was happening to the natural world.

We went to the woods to learn, to be taught by the wild and all who live there. If you sit quietly and listen, you will gain wisdom; the wisdom to see all that is and can be. But of all the special places in my heart, it is the time I spent on Middle Rendezous Island, overlooking Calm Channel, that come closest to that absolute acceptance of me in what I consider the “real world.” I have written of these hermitages before, in pieces called “Silent Ground.” It takes on more meaning now. The last image I had was of a young mother who had just lost her baby girl. She wanted me to use “Silent Ground” as a memorial for her daughter. I will.

Make of this what you will. But I feel I must write about my connection to the natural world for those future generations who will never have the opportunity to experience it as I have, standing in the middle of a salmon bed, watching a wild wolf cross the meadow, listening to the pure calls of a varied thrush at either end of the day, hearing the soft breath of the tide as it washes into and out of Dearheart Cove.

…PLM