
Leslie Crews
Necessity of Silence [Free Verse Poem]

It took 35 years to learn the value of silence
Silence is necessary
Over committed, overwhelmed, over everythingDeciding to sit in silence
Embracing the sounds of nature
Watching the people casually stroll
Conversations outside my window
A brown skinned woman
With a heart filled laugh
Watching life happen in the world surrounding me
Reminding myself to breathe
Taking a moment to appreciate the shades of green
Fresh tulips sprouting from rich dark soil
Life
Continuing to move, without needing my interference
Through the silence and stillness
I’m learning to let loose of control
Exhausted from over caring, not sleeping, stomach aching
Over things that are, temporary
Silence told me that every trouble in life is temporary
Watching the leaves flutter, birds singing
a melody only they can understand
Letting go of angst, intentionally pushing worries out of the way
Knowing that in the end, things always work out
Have faith
I often dream of sitting on a tree stump
In the middle of the woods
By myself
In silence
Where clarity is attained
Silence is necessary
A lesson learned when I flipped a jetski in the middle of the ocean
Flipping underwater looking up
at the very object that I feared would land me here
Then floating on my back miles away from land in perfect
Silence
Discovering peace in the midst of chaos was a blessing
Without fear
Floating in the middle of the ocean
Smiling at the sky
Waiting oddly patiently, for someone to retrieve me
Washed over in a calm awareness
Of the insignificance of worries and fears I woke up with
Because life had not ended
Any fear I ever had, tragedies that occured, suddenly became unimportant Irrelevant
Through the silence of the ocean came the awareness that everything is Temporary
All of today’s troubles are temporary
This political hell we’re in
Temporary
Daily battles with smiling enemies,
Struggles to make things work
The cycle of being stable then shaken
The process of stumbling repeatedly
Until learning eventually to
look for the lesson in the chaos
Peace comes when you worry less
Emotional and human
Bound by immeasurable stress
Stretched thinner than cellophane
Pain and unfavorable circumstances
Trauma and stress
The end is inevitable
Breathe
It will be alright