Close Listening to the Universe
21I first heard it on a moonless night.
A melodic buzzing.Â
Persistent as a housefly’s footfalls.
Almost imperceptible
to the untrained ear
in the mind of
barefoot solitude.
I am no expert, but
I’ve learned to discern
silence in varying weights.Â
Its bald peaks andÂ
full-throated troughs.Â
I become wide open.Â
Privy to the elemental murmurings
like a seashell
scuffed apart by sand.Â
The crickets speak in tongues.
The grass hums.Â
When midnight sneezes,Â
it steals my breath.
To listen, forgetÂ
the eyes. Abandon
the body. The worldÂ
will unfurl in a quiltÂ
of sound. A hypnosisÂ
at the discothèque.Â
Nostalgia croons aboveÂ
the din. A lone saxophone
moans. My ear stays pressed
against the brass knob.Â
I’m not after spoken secrets.
Hush.
There goes the dial toneÂ
of your atoms.