The Silence of Earth

Come here and stand beside me, quickly, slowly until you can breathe

In the empty air of the night and unsheathe

Wide pupils underneath the dark night sky scattered with stars,

Small moments and memories of worlds that aren't ours.

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There is a wild prairie, a feral grassland, in the center of my heart.

And the strange un-silence of this soil sets this world apart

From all the ugly things in the galaxy, with its hay-coloured grass

Shifting from the wonderous summer green into a pale looking glass.

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I can see the lives lived long ago and feel the dance of people prior

Running hands through the seeding stalks to the soft choir

Of wind sweeping across the autumnal landscape, whispering

The stories long lost to open ears, ready and listening.

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The sun has set and the moon has risen painting everything white

Even the brown wings of a bat soaring, diving, chirping in mid-flight.

This isn't silent to the normal ear but here, amidst the rolling hills,

This is the silence that rattles our bones and gives us the chills.

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We ache for this nighttime melody of silence, this roaring quiet

As the crickets sing their loud tune and the cicadas riot

Against a quick, impossibly short little life from the trees

Spotting the edges of the fields like shadows, moving only in the breeze.

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Please, stay awhile...stay until the dew gathers on the grass and coats

The creaky legs of crickets and tucks in the bats and their chirping notes.

Stay until the trilling silence and suspiring breeze have filled the vacant parts

Of you, my new friends, and your strange alien hearts.

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