A Moment of Silence

Image by peasap via Flickr

Our small piece of property is bordered on the north and the east by two state highways and on the north again by the east/west lines of the railroad. All three are quite busy most of the time so it's seldom what you would call quiet around here. There are moments though. They are rare indeed, but I see a few from time to time.

I am a very quiet person. I don't slam doors, I don't clomp around in big boots, I don't talk in a loud voice and I don't have a need to turn on a tellie or a radio just for some noise. I know every creaking board in the house, every squeaking door, and I know how to move on and around them so they won't chirp.

So this morning, like most mornings, I got my cup of coffee, the dog and the cat and started out for the south deck to sit with the early morning sunshine, being careful to not arouse anything that is sleeping. As I started to slide the patio door back, I had to pause. I instantly knew that something was very different this morning. So I quietly let out the dog and the cat and gently stepped out onto the deck.

No car sounds, no approaching trains, no neighbors dog barking, but what was so different was that the birds in my yard and in the nearby neighbors properties, had all stopped talking. The world appeared to have stopped. I wondered - What is it doing? Is it re-adjusting, am I in another plane of existence? But as thinking then became loud, I ceased the mind chatter and just sat, quietly and deeply breathing the fresh morning air.

The air smells different, the colors appear more vibrant. In the distant cornfield I hear the frog-like warbling of a sandhill crane. A bumblebee cruises past, legs heavy with treasure. A light breeze ruffles its way through the nearby maple. The morning doves gently coo to each other out on our gravel road. The small sounds like those are there, in the background, but now they are muted, blended into the silence. Just singular notes on a song of peacefulness. That song playing in my head and in my heart.

I observe that I am not the only one that has noticed the quiet. The dog lays at the top of the steps on the deck, gazing out into the distance, ears up, head up, completely alert. The cat has draped herself over the corner of the table next to me. She turns her head and looks me straight in the eyes. I think I detect a smile there and so I smile back. She winks. It seems like eternity has folded itself up into the dew on my chair arm and has come to sit with us on the deck to enjoy the beauty of the morning. I take it all in, like a painting on a canvas.

Suddenly the peace is broken! A hummingbird, its wings buzzing like a swarm of angry bees, has come to check us out, and with that, a chorus of birds erupts! I hear the distant sound of a train approaching, the whistle warning and the low rumble of its great churning engines. A car approaches from the south and the neighbor's dog begins to bay. Thier rooster sounds the morning alarm. The Day has begun.

Was what I just didn't hear real? Truthfully, does it really matter? I think not. What matters is that I was part of it and felt it and now I am more alive because of it. I stretch, take the last drink of my coffee and...

step out into the new day.

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