No evenings address aloneness,
No need in silky atmosphere,
Open curtains welcome the stars,
Aloneness shelters in stillness.
Questions concealed in deep heart’s core,
Answers hidden in its crevices,
Silence extends its long welcome,
Night hours beat away long shadows.
Death of desire makes solitude,
As it announces the summer’s dawn,
Heart bereft of contact’s touch,
Just love without need for other.
Upright in an empty surround,
Candle on table, moon, cyclist,
Alive in their own time and space,
Alone with others shows shared grace.
A Woman wanders on the Moor,
Monk sits aloof in remove cave,
Spider rests in its web’s outreach,
Rock keeps head above ocean deep.
Why urge frequent thoughts into speech?
To force others’ ears to listen?
Wise words confirm pebbles on beach,
Let’s dwell on the monk’s legacy.
A cloud wanders across blue sky,
Woods abide in aged silence,
Canary sings despite its cage,
Coffee tastes strong without a guest.
Love of formless state smells so sweet,
Silence impels itself in ears,
Open new insights, then take risks,
Every step marks the trodden way.
Aloneness steadies the being,
Yet stays loyal to one or two,
Loves to retreat, odd times to greet,
Solitude tips balance of love.
Mortal shows arise and then pass,
Mind’s constructs and dissolves content,
Whose names slip away soon after,
Aloneness knows its lineage.
Outside, trees connect sky to earth.
Great poem. Captures the silence of aloneness with craft and deft expression.
Quite so! Lovely. I want to sing it, this poem. Think I will. Just to myself. Like, make up the tune.
It makes me feel like I’m on a journey. Coffee tastes strong without a guest. Great line.
I want to watch time go by, write in my notebook., this poem makes me feel all mellow and relaxed and not afraid.
Murray Feldman?? I know you from another life, like from years ago, when I was a wandering peculiarity. Ooops, sorry, this isn’t a social space, but hullo!
Beautiful Christopher. So much beauty. The poem radiates stillness and aloneness. I love ‘a love without need for other’. In this love there is no separation whatsoever.