Photo by Ingrid Mathews

"I want to be with those who know secret things or else alone."
~ Rainer Maria Rilke


And as the gentle breezes rocked the branches
Like a cradle
The leaves whispered secrets in the dark
They didn’t know I was wide awake
They didn’t know I could hear
And I heard wonderful truths
Like silver transparencies of spirits
They eased in and out of my consciousness
Like the ebb and flow of a moonlit tide
Too fragile to hold
Or carry with me til morning
But the night voices still brush across my mind
Airy as a butterfly's wing
Or the kiss of an eyelash
And the sun rises strong to find me renewed
With a different kind a faith
The knowledge of belonging
And a heart newly born and beating
To the universal pulse of all living things
The leaves look innocent in the soft light of morning
As if they had not played a role at all
As though their lips were sealed when the sun rolled over the mountain
But I know what I have come away with
And we are together in the conspiracy of quiet
There is an interlude of complete peace
When even the birds
Who tuned up with the first gossamer thread of dawn
Take a few moments to pause in prayer
The breezes cease
The trees go still
And the world bows it’s head
Folds it’s hands
And offers
Here we are


Sara Mathews     December 2015