Up the long flight of stairs <br />every tread echoes from stone walls <br />as if to comment on how stillness <br />tells of sound its silent origin. <br /> <br />In the quiet library, the central table <br />bears a careful written message: <br />‘Silence is spoken here’.. <br /> <br />and that’s truer than <br />at first it seems to read; <br /> <br />round the walls, shelves of books <br />as silent as the monks <br />standing upright in their stalls <br />witness words that seek to share; <br />yet ultimately, wave fare well, turn back; <br /> <br />speak of silence sought and silence found; <br />yet cannot speak of silence; <br /> <br />in the name of silence, take a book, <br />well-worn, from off the shelf; <br />meet it in the silence of the room, <br />read a few words, and lay it down; <br />glance at the other readers round the room; <br />fall still. <br /> <br />Here, silence speaks of stillness; <br />stillness joys in silence.<br /><br />Michael Shepherd<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/monastery-4/
