Forest Song

I’ve come to love the silence. (You will come

to love it too.) Slip into the forest, hush,

and listen, away from the brook’s mindless

chatter. The world is loud, your thoughts

are loud; your love, your pain, your dreams

are loud. Put them aside and listen. Come

deeper in, all moth-wings and moon-dark

and I shall not speak, but hold you. This tight-

strung thrumming below blood-beat (feel

it) is your food and clothing and shelter. Sink

and be still, feel this earth-skin turning

with arms of leaves to enfold you. Hush

and hear the spider-silk weaving

(listen to love it too).

 

23 thoughts on “Forest Song”

  1. I absolutely love the first two lines… and also the title.
    “The world is loud, your thoughts
    are loud; your love, your pain, your dreams
    are loud. Put them aside and listen”
    what a beautiful (and powerful) invitation to silence… the repetition of “loud” makes the worlds, love pain, and dreams very “loud” indeed… “Sink and be still”. Invitation to silence, and contemplation. Great work! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I’m glad you liked–I hope it was rhythmic enough to be a kind of song. I was thinking how, even when we retreat to a quiet place, all that life stuff we drag with us can still be so loud.

      Liked by 1 person

  2. This is beautiful, Jenn. It is like a babbling brook, whispering shadows, a Celtic folksong and a legend all rolled into one. Your turn-of-phrase and rhythm are enchanting. I loved “all moth-wings and moon-dark” and “This tight-strung thrumming below blood-beat.” So vivid I could see it and feel it!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you, much too kind. That art prompt was soooo beautiful, and an awesome first line to go with it! I had to “go there.”

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      1. I’m glad you liked the line and I thought Suzanne’s choice of media prompt was amazing – it was exactly where I had already been going. Glad it all took you where it did.

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    1. Thanks so much, Suzanne. The prompts were perfect and irresistible! I had never read that fairy tale (I know!), so I loved doing that bit of research and how the story folded into the idea of silence.

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    1. Thanks, Meg. The prompts were pretty magical in themselves. I’m always glad of an excuse to slip into fairy-tale land.

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  3. Such a wonderful, meditative music to this entire piece – really lovely. And you encapsulate the overall feel in perfect imagery, too; my own favourites being –
    “feel this earth-skin turning”
    and
    “hear the spider-silk weaving”

    A pleasure to read 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

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