Silence has found me


When snow begins to coat the ground, as it’s been doing this week in our neighbourhood, every noise is muffled, creating a new world of silence that is breath-taking in its unexpected minimalism. Every sound that you do hear feels intentional. Somehow the birds’ songs have become clearer and more distinct, have you noticed that?

In Wendell Berry’s How to be a Poet, he prescribes that one “make a poem that does not disturb 
the silence from which it came.” A beautiful line. We’re often good at disturbing silence with noise, but it takes true skill to make sound that contributes rather than takes away from it. Like a duck paddling over still waters without making as much as a ripple, the right word at the right time can only add poignancy to a quiet moment.

May the silence find you.