Poem Review: Silence
We are back to our nests. COVID19’s second wave is ravaging the subcontinent. An apocalyptic scenario indeed. Since I am in India, I am unable to avoid reference to contemporary events that have become contextual to my review. Having said, poem reviews are where I find my own liberation, as you, the reader, might have deduced by now.
I stay still and in silence. I have been led to the point of contemplating the power of the non-spoken word. How? From yogi’s of the yore to today’s seers, poets and philosophers, the idea of silence and space have been core to human’s identity and existence.
Space is all encompassing, comprising of both matter and empty elements. Infinite emptiness is the permanent, holistic form of nature. Matter is transient. Emptiness, implying space, is permanent.
Silence is too. From silence is sound born. A blip amid the infinite. A spark amid infinite darkness. A drop of water amid an infinite ocean. Sound causes ripples, and ripples cause instability. But silence is permanent. It is the restful form of sound. The beginning, the space between, and the end of sound.
The spiritual and physical realms of humans have always been connected. Scientists, psychologists and philosophers alike have agreed on this interposing of both realms.
For us, dear reader, we will fall back on what we love to do most. Explore the world of silence and space, through poems. We get lucky sometimes, when we get three poems to churn and cherish.
First is ‘Silence’, a triplet by Elizabeth Urabe, which explores the purity of silence. The second poem, by Desiree Driesenaar, aptly named ‘Folded Silence’ is a deep exploration of silence and space, within and without. The third poem, ‘Silence, the much awaited guest’ by Sourabha Rao, is the marriage of silence with darkness, birthing the night. What more can a ‘Ponderer’ dream of? I brood in silence, in my own space ( literally), about these three poems.
Let me share the three poems and their interweaving of space and silence into the realms of physics, spirituality and psychology.
Poem 1: Silence
Silence is holy
and wholly voluminous.
Why taint it with words?
-E.R Urabe
Commentary on Poem 1:
Elizabeth Urabe is my spiritual connect. No wonder that her words are a few, but they open up the space for my exploration.
Humans are born to speak and communicate. Speech is one of the abilities that makes us different from other species. So, why not speak all the time? Speaking is action, communication and vent, all in one act. So why silence?
Silence, as it turns out, is a figure of speech. It is absence of the spoken word or sound. In physics, there is no wave, but a flatline.
Let us dissect ‘holy’ first. Merriam Webster explains holy as ‘exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness’. While speech is an act, the poet calls its absence ‘holy’. Let me attempt to decipher the phrase ‘Silence is holy’.
Silence is natural and peaceful, reflecting either a state of rest or harmonic motion. When a word is spoken, it is weighed its worth. Such measurement is related to the context, tone and choice of word. It is relative.
But silence is absolute. It is left to the beholder’s interpretation. The unspoken word or the absence of words, called silence, has spoken. This interpretation is exalted and worthy of complete devotion.
Silence is also ‘wholly voluminous’, says the poet. Wholly voluminous is ever pervading. Imagine infinite space beyond the boundaries of this universe. Silence is the all-occupier of that space. I would bring this out as a psychological and philosophical concept.
One can think only in silence. Even if one has to react in an instant, there is a moment of priority and pause, which is indeed a moment of silence. There are longer periods of silence when one ‘thinks through’ a response. Silence is inevitable for humans to think. Silence is the medium in which one can observe, interpret, process and consume.
Silence is also the gateway to inner discovery. Silence awakens the spirit. The spirit, which is the life of the soul, works its ways with the larger universe. The inner conscience speaks but without sound. The conversation within us is silent. This silence is the medium through with seeker receives his answers. The medium makes the human whole.
Given the glory and holiness of silence, do we need anything more? ‘Why taint it with words?’ queries the poet. Words, which I had mentioned before, are always judged and measured. Human judgement is fallacious and contextual.
Silence is absolute. Inner discovery is absolute. Words or noises are undesirable specks of dust that destroy the purity of the silence.
“God is silent. Now if only man would shut up.”
― Woody Allen
Poet Elizabeth Urabe has captured the magnitude of divinity and infinity succinctly, in a thrifty poem.
Poem 2: Folded Silence
The sound of silence
speaks to me of space
filled with waves
of nothingness.Or is it nothingness?
Do we really understand
the magic of space?Space is between our atoms
and cells. Space is holding us
together.Silence is space.
In poems and prose,
the silence speaks volumes.
The whiteness is where
words are becoming
new meanings.Folded silence,
folded space,
becomes
folded foreverness
if not opened
by space.Space is needed
for new things to emerge.
Slowing down is needed
to hear the sound
of your longing.Unfold, my friends, unfold.
Only movement, space, and time
will unleash, emerge, and become
whatever.Whatever we long for.
Whatever we want
our lives to be.Folded silence
wants to be
unfolded.— Desiree Driesenaar
Commentary on Poem 2:
I had to prepare myself to write this piece. Elizabeth’s poem brought to us the ‘holiness and wholly voluminous’ dimension, akin to space, while Desiree brings us the concept directly, a perfect extension of the first poem.
Does silence have a physical attribute? I never thought about it till I came across this poem of Desiree. Most of us, especially students of science will remember that anything that is visualized is in the context of three dimensions of space and time. We will explore the time dimension of silence in Poem 3. Let us explore space dimension of silence now.
The sound of silence
speaks to me of space
filled with waves
of nothingness.Or is it nothingness?
Can silence speak? If so, how does it ‘sound’? The voice of silence is absolute, because it is ‘space filled with waves of nothingness’.
Silence is the absence of noise or the spoken word. In that absence, there is meaning though. The meaning of nothing is the start ‘before sound’, gap ‘between sounds’ and the end ‘when sound ends’.
Without the start, interval and the end, sound itself is meaningless. For this reason, the ‘nothingness’ of sound, that occupies most of the space, defines the very ‘essence’ of sound.
The attribute through which silence defines sound is ‘space’. Space is a three dimensional medium. It is filled with vacuum and matter. The portion of vacuum is many times over, more than matter. Vacuum is nothingness. Now, an empty space is empty. So a ‘space of nothingness’ is ‘nothingness’, and vice versa. The poet lets the reader discover this transposition of ‘noun’ to ‘adjective’.
Do we really understand
the magic of space?Space is between our atoms
and cells. Space is holding us
together.Silence is space.
The next few lines of the poem elaborate this transposition. We dive into the understanding ‘space’. Now, space, which is the fundamental to all our existence, is ‘magic’. The magic is ‘being’ — the sheer existence of space, which in turn reflects our existence. Without space, we don’t exist. And if we don’t exist, we can’t realize space. Both space and us are cut from the same cloth.
Even when filled with ‘matter’, space exists. The poet explains this ‘Space is between our atoms and cells. Space is holding us together.’
The fundamental building blocks of nature — atoms and cells, occupy space. In between them is space. Space holds us all together. The four forces — strong nuclear, weak nuclear, gravitational and electromagnetic forces that work alone and together, hold the atoms and cells in place. To act, the forces need space. Space is the container that holds the matter, and is also contained in the gaps between the fundamental entities that occupy space ( the container and contained).
The last line ‘ Silence is space’ brings these two concepts together. We had discovered this transposing relationship as ‘the start, end and the gaps between matter particles is space’ and ‘the start, end and the gaps between sound (read waves) is silence. Silence is therefore the container and contained. If you were to sign up for more physics, then you will discover that space is the material form of silence, and silence is the energy form of space.
Beyond the physical realm, there is a spiritual transference as well. Read this.
“Space and silence are two aspects of the same thing. The same no-thing. They are externalization of inner space and inner silence, which is stillness: the infinitely creative womb of all existence.”
― Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
Space and silence are interrelated, and are the manifestations of each other — matter and energy. (Einstein must be proud of Desiree Driesenaar here). People dismiss ‘nothing’, but it is the nothing that holds everything ( I may sound obtuse here, but this is an attempt to explain the paradox.
In poems and prose,
the silence speaks volumes.
The whiteness is where
words are becoming
new meanings.
With these lines, I feel at home and peace, as they are about poetry and literature. Lets the spirituality, psychology and physics for a bit.
‘In poems and prose, the silence speaks volumes.’ Indeed. We have just began to unravel the synonymy of silence and space. We all acknowledge the multi-dimensionality, don’t we?
‘The whiteness is where words are becoming new meanings’, explains the poet. Like the proverbial space, a white paper is empty. When you fill it with words and sentences, there are the gaps between words, lines and sentences. Without the gaps, the words won’t mean a thing. The written words follow the same meaning as the speech and ‘matter’ that we saw.
We are now acclimatized to the synonymy, but is there a functional relationship between silence and space? The poet endeavors to bring about the functional aspect in these lines.
Folded silence,
folded space,
becomes
folded foreverness
if not opened
by space.Space is needed
for new things to emerge.
Slowing down is needed
to hear the sound
of your longing.
It is important to understand ‘folded’. Folded means ‘bent over itself, so that one part covers the another’. ‘Folded’ is also a euphemism for ‘wrapped and trapped’.
Vast, open spaces create opportunities for genesis and growth. The poet brings the time element into play ‘Folded silence, Folded space becomes folded foreverness’, to point that if trapped silence and space aren’t freed, they are stuck for eternity, ‘if not opened by space.’
‘This space is needed for new things to emerge’, is about new ideas appearing at the horizon when you are silent and listening. New ideas lead to new deeds. How do we let new ideas, things to emerge?
Is silence only the unspoken word? Is silence the calm between, before or after sound? There is another dimension to silence. The poet brings this out beautifully, but you can notice only when you are S.I.L.E.N.T. Now L.I.S.T.E.N. The anagram plays up to our wanton interpretation, my friends. By being silent and listening you give space.
“When I say I love the silence, I’m not being entirely truthful. What I actually love are the abundant, delicate sounds that amplify when I’m silent. These curious creaks, mutters, and hums compel my imagination.”
― Richelle E. Goodrich, Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
If you want to listen, you have to slow down. ‘Slowing down is needed to hear the sound of your longing’. If you move forward without slowing down, you lose the silence, space and ultimately peace. To listen to the ‘sound of your longing’,
Unfold, my friends, unfold.
Only movement, space, and time
will unleash, emerge, and become
whatever.
When one slows down, one unfolds. When one unfolds, one’s body, mind and soul opens up. ‘Only movement, space, and time will unleash, emerge, and become whatever’. The concepts of inner engineering, discovery and evolution happen based on how one slows down and opens up.
Whatever we long for.
Whatever we want
our lives to be.
What would we want or long for? It could be a spiritualistic or materialistic goal. It is in your subconscious mind. Let the desires of your life flower and grow. Build your inner-self, says the poet.
Folded silence
wants to be
unfolded.
The poet finishes emphatically, talking about the need to ‘unwrap and release’ the ‘folds’ in the inner recesses of our mind. By ‘unfolding’, there is an open space for us to observe, ponder, assimilate and imbibe, like soil which accepts the seed, the rain and shine to produce the magic of sapling.
We leave this poem with a sense of inner solace, as if we have discovered our own space, breathing in and out to discover things anew.
Poem 3: Silence, a much-awaited guest
Noises fade from the streets as night descends
like voices falling into a whisper while uttering a promise~ Sourabha Rao
Commentary on Poem 3:
We have explored the silence within, what about the world? In this third planet from the sun, silence happens when the sun sets, and ends when the sun rises. This time between sunrise and sunset, which we call ‘night’, is the temporal spouse of silence. Parallel this with the interpretation that darkness is the photonic counterpart of silence, much like that silence is the auditory counterpart of darkness.
The retraction of noise from the streets by reduced human activity connects with the main focus of the second poem, where silence is the auditory counterpart of space (emptiness). Night is the temporal counterpart of silence and space, exhorts, poet Sourabha Rao.
Noises fade from the streets as night descends
Streets are the communion of houses. Houses contain people and people make noises. ‘As night descends’, the humans return to their nests, the noise recedes.
Body and mind demand quiet. Quiet needs cessation of activities at both physical and mental levels. These active and inactive states are governed by temporal cycles of day and night. The insertion of the temporal dimension is the final piece of the ‘silence’ puzzle.
“Q: Why do I love thee, O Night?
A: Because you know I will never answer.”
― Vera Nazarian
We all love the night for its emptiness, darkness and silence. Some of us allow our creative and introspective senses to kick in, in the night. There is a world of silence, emptiness and darkness that lie in front of us to be discovered and explored. Silence is the sound of the night.
like voices falling into a whisper while uttering a promise
Have you ever made a promise? Most promises that stick, and are sincere are made in a low voice, whispered, slowly and steadily, with a deep sense of assurance. The strength of the words spoken are absolute, like silence itself.
“Empty streets are a blessing for you because an empty street whips your thoughts and makes you question your life! He who wants to dive into his own depths, let him wander in the empty streets!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan
It is easy to see that empty streets bring us to the point of contemplation. Contemplation needs to inner discovery. Inner discovery happens when the streets you walk or when you stay at home, with the silence and emptiness around. The definitiveness of those voices bring about a feeling of safety and solace, as the blanket of silence and darkness wraps the blue planet.
The poem leaves us sitting in our beds, just before slumber time, in a cocoon of solace and comfort.
Contemplating
Silence is multidimensional. We have explored the spatial, temporal, literal and auditory dimensions in the three poems. Each one hooks on to the other, opening a fundamental understanding of our inner selves and the universe. Such an understanding of silence shall stand good stead in our journey of life.
“I felt very still and empty, the way the eye of a tornado must feel, moving dully along in the middle of the surrounding hullabaloo.”
― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
When we understand silence, we can handle tempests in our life, with our silent and contemplative inner core.
While I researching to write this piece, I came across a ‘fourth’ dimension of the word ‘AUM’ or ‘OM’. Like we have seen, there is that silence at the end of the word which in written form is the white space at the end, and when pronounced, the gap between two repetitions. In these forms, silence completes the mantra itself, as explained in the below quote.
“Om is said to be a four-syllable word in Sanskrit, originally as AUM. A, the waking state. U, the dream state. M, the unconscious state. And the fourth, the silence that surrounds it — wherefrom everything arises and whereto everything inevitably returns.
It is the silence that surrounds om that contains everything. It is the silence in your own life that contains and gives birth to everything you have, and everything you will ever need.
It is this same silence we avoid, overlook, and disregard as nothing. The white space of life we abhor. We fill our lives with noise, drama, screens, people, and “stuff” to avoid the void that reminds us of our truth — that beyond flesh that once was not, and will inescapably become not, we are eternal.”
― Drew Gerald
I thank poets Elizabeth Urabe, Desiree Driesenaar and Sourabha Rao for their wonderful poems that deep dive into multiple dimension of ‘silence’.
PS: Copyrights of poems and quotes from poems in the article belong to respective poets.
~Ashok Subramanian