The Silence and the Singing

Today I went to the mountain

alone and not alone.

I thought, "Surely the sabbath

is to show us the beauty of the Kingdom,

the sweet repose in dwelling with the divine,

all else silent,

all is calm."

I had hung my hammock between two trees near the trail

and was reading some Wendell Berry: The Sabbath Poems.

He quotes at the start of the collection:

"The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet;

they break forth into singing" (Isaiah 14:7).

And the sun shone on my face

and all was quiet,

save for the insects

imitating sounds of rain on the leaves.

I could sense the singing.

Only in this silence,

beneath tress that have seen centuries,

could I feel true sabbath.

When our bodies are still, our souls cry out

in joy.