Ah, what does listening look like
when the ears are open?
As we sit and open our eyes,
I wonder if we hear the click
of the drawbridge of our hearts widening a crack,
the eyes to our souls
opening their lids?
Are not all our senses connected
as woven webs translucent and hardly apparent,
until we see how opening the ears
brings the eyes to bear
upon the heart’s imprints?
St John of the Cross has said,
‘God’s first language is silence’.
This silence that we, falling into,
are borne upon,
opening to an inner world.
Yes, that God speaks to us
in our own voice,
our original language,
is a mystery too wonderful to fathom.
That in this knowledge of ourselves,
the etchings of our hearts,
the scribblings of our soul’s
quiet resonances,
is God’s love keenly felt,
part understood.
At least enough, enough
that we can re-emerge to the surface,
carry on as pilgrim travelers,
heart’s full of hidden treasure,
bearing the truth of ourselves.
Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
February 2021
I was halfway through writing this poem, at the part about our senses being connected and God’s first language being silence when I read the below shared by my friend Helena Nelson:
“The more peaceful your soul is, the more quickly it is able to move toward God , its centre.
How is this possible? Because the soul is yielded to the spirit that is moving and directing!
What is attracting you so strongly to your inward parts? It is none other than God himself. And, oh, his drawing of you causes you to run to him.
The girl in the song of songs understood this, for she said:
Draw me, we will run after you.
(Song of Solomon 1:4)
“Draw me to yourself, Oh my my Divine Centre, by the secret springs of my existence and all my powers and senses will follow you!”
The Lord is so simple in his attraction of you. This attraction of his is both an ointment to heal and an attraction to allure you to himself. The maiden in the Song of Songs said it:
We follow the fragrance of your perfume!
Song of Solomon (1:3)
“Lord you attract us by the fragrance of your very being, and you draw us so deeply within to yourself.”
~ Jeanne Guyon, Experiencing the depths of Jesus Christ
Living Tree Poetry 