The Flame in My Silence

author’s note:

Up from the bottom
    of an old pond,
    that duckling
has seen something strange.
      -- Joso (Beilenson/Behn trans.)


THE FLAME IN MY SILENCE

I found silence

while casually exploring
a deep water cave
dating back to the stone age.

In that silence, I felt at peace
despite the depth
and in the clarity of my calm
I saw a single flame
faraway in the dark--

not extinguished by the water, but fed.

I did not understand
why I wanted that flame
but I did understand
I could draw that steady fire to me
by remaining silent

but impatient desire
soon ended my silence
and the flame vanished.

At that point, I realized
the fire might be unattainable.
So, of course, I vowed to make it mine.

In that way
I began a quest of years
and though I still can’t stay
in silent calm for long
I seem to bring the fire flame
just a little bit closer
with every descent.

If “seem” seems to be
a soft ambiguous word
consider this sentence:

Whenever I go to that depth
I seem to travel back
to the age of stone
when humans first dove
into the deep waters
and there, in silence
discovered their fire.

floating leaf video
© 2021, Michael R. Patton