Hush

By Cliff Lake

Hush

 

Do you hear the quiet?

Or have you heard

The bustle of a million lives

Too close

And somehow not near enough?

 

The hum and clank,

The buzz and roar,

The empty eyes filled with false image,

The empty ears plugged,

A vacuum of humanity,

Sucked into electronic oblivion.

 

Endlessly informed,

Yet knowing nothing of lessons learned

Of the shading oak,

The constant sea,

Or the susurrus of new-fallen leaves.

Such gentle lectures.

It is in quietude

That we see ourselves more clearly.

 

The rushing colors of madnesses sold,

The unsettling beat of “More, more, more!”

What can be learned of these,

Unless it be that your pockets

Can be ever emptier,

And that you have been consumed

In your consumption.

 

Don’t you hear the quiet?

It is calling.

 

Cliff Lake 9/19/2024

Copyright © Clifford Lake 2024


Location: Wichita, KS, USA

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