ON A QUIET NIGHT

On a quiet night, there is nothing happening
but what should and must happen.
The holiest thoughts are there
for us to use, as instructive
as the modest stars above us,
and the flow of feelings is as free
as it ever is. The silence extends
to the ends of the earth. The hearts
of all things are nothing but silence.
No noise lives in stones or in the fingers
of our neighbors, or in the trees
that stand like trustworthy sentries.
A quiet night will love us,
and will let us love our lives as well.
There will be rivers of thoughts
where there was wilderness inside us.
There will be the bliss of starry skies
in our minds, where there used to be rust
and disregard. There will be coarse voices
made soft. There will be quietness
to care for all things.