A Quiet Place with Strangers

A Quiet Place with Strangers

It takes a quiet place

to unstop the ears of the soul;

so much self-protection

in the blaring societies we've made

isn't easily undone;

it sometimes takes

the gentle hands of strangers,

warm water, a bulb-syringe, to free the

plugs.

And as things wash down the sides

of our heads,

past our temples and over our cheeks

we begin again to hear

the music we'd almost forgotten:

lullabies… hummingbird wings…

crickets under the porch…

After the coma

we come back again

to life

knowing intimately

the harmonics of silence

in the presence of strangers,

their hearts beating wordlessly

counter-rhythmic,

embellishing, finally reviving our own.

There are no strangers.