the old poet grows weary . . .




Prayer

 

And what if after so many words

            the word itself doesn’t survive.

                 Cesar Vallejo, “And What If After”

 

 

So often I have known too much the need

To make words of a place and moment,

To give them human speech even though

They need no language but their own: wind

In the pines, rain in the fields, the hunger cry

Of a hawk or ice creaking in a winter stream,

Love songs of cicadas and passages of geese.

Grant me the wisdom to listen without words,

To hear the sounds of each season's solitude

And to know again the serenity of my silence.





Poetry by countryfog
Read 1135 times
Written on 2015-10-27 at 14:49

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Jamsbo Rockda The PoetBay support member heart!
So beautifully expressed. Nature speaks to us all. It gives us patience, serenity and the philosophical wisdom for life. These things are not taught in a classroom. Unless the school roof is a rain forest canopy and the blackboard is the open sky at night. Your piece is excellent.
2015-11-01


shells
Such a lovely thought provoking piece, sounds of nature are all around, it's that stopping and listening, really listening, that can uplift, calm and the appreciation comes and sometimes the silence is deafening.
2015-10-29



I treasure my solitude with nature, but to speak and to describe its beauty with words, is essential in my opinion.
Ashe
2015-10-28


one trick pony The PoetBay support member heart!
i think this is the next step we talked about. letting go, in this case, of words.
2015-10-28



Here is another delightful descriptive piece :-)
This poem is a box of treasures, both for the nature notes at the centre and the musings on either side. It's interesting, how people differ. At BirdBrains, nature is first art and music, then words (-:>)
2015-10-27


Lawrence Beck The PoetBay support member heart!
Because I think in words, I don't often apprehend the natural world directly. When I do, I am awed. You've listed some great sounds. My favorite probably is the sound of water flowing over rocks.
2015-10-27


josephus The PoetBay support member heart!
You beautifully describe the incompleteness of our descriptions when words are used to relate to them. It's interesting that we use words only to share these experiences. We don't use words to feel or encounter them alone. Our humanity requires sharing to somehow heighten the experience. If we move past that need to share and focus on the event or experience as a force applied uniquely and directly to our soul, words are of no use.
2015-10-27



I could be wrong, as I so often am, probably most of the time, but I think man HAS to speak--it's in our nature. Even before language, we probably grunted and made noises of some sort to interpret and articulate the world into which we were thrown. But, as you so poetically note, we also have ears and the amazing ability to listen to the ''speech'' of the natural world around us. As people who write poetry, we can pass on our responses to the voices of nature to the people we love and care about. I concur, though, that sometimes it's better to just sit back and listen.
2015-10-27