A Poem: The Sound of You

In the silence is the sound of you,
waves humming, leaves singing.
In the silence is an echo of your cocoon.

In the silence is the body of the earth,
bearing witness to you,
it’s heart beat.

And the passage of the wind,
your spirit.

I could come up against the wall of you,
and feel beyond.

So it is with your silence,
it is like the mystery of the dark,

and the universe expanding at every breath.

Out beyond this gravity
is a depth of silence containing
all the world’s music.

I know I can hear you from here.

How in the silence I am simply
a small girl again,
ear against her father’s chest,

or I am a fetus in the womb,
floating.

And somewhere in the world is
loneliness.
But not here,

where we, with ears pricked,
listen.

Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
March 2023