• Afraid I would scrape the silence
    I didn't ruin the smooth stone with my fingertips
    But rather let myself sink into the warming ground,
    Pushed by some unseen force, leaving me feeling weightless
    Yet crushed like an incubus's sleeping victim
    By the sweet cacophony I was being treated to
    What would you do
    If you were there?

    I heard no rushing waterfall
    Nor rustle of any grass;
    Only the sound of my own thoughts running rampant
    In my hypnogogic mind broke the smothering silence;
    No exceptional beauty (in the eyes of most) surrounded me
    But as long as I was under the vast and crowded sky
    I knew I could never accuse my environment of being less than breathtaking.
    So I finally found the nerve to communicate with whatever infinite being
    May have been close to me
    And I found no answers but the fact that I didn't need to know them.
    I was satisfied, then, but what would you do
    If you had been there?

    So many small things were crawling up my hands
    Suddenly I knew how it felt to be tired of breathing
    And I felt no emotion when I heard a young woman's wail
    Come of an owl's throat;
    Despite my loss of empathy
    I showed a strong sense of hopelessness
    That was purely superficial.