Shhh

There is nothing to say.

There is only to stand

in silence,

And witness

In sadness and humility

The unraveling of what was

and the unfolding of what will be.

Let go rage

And blame and bias.

They got us here

And they will not deliver us.

Relinquish fear

And reactivity and ego.

They are the kindling

On which this fire burns.

Hang your head

And shed a tear

For what we’ve wrought,

All of us.

Shhh

Make no excuses

Or accusations,

Just stand quiet

And listen

To the silent wailing

That underlies all anger

And insistence.

Poor dears,

We are all so fragile

And fleeting.

We thunder

Against our impermanence

And irrelevance.

We want

Simply to matter

And assert our import.

We forget

That in the quiet

There is nothing that I have

That isn’t yours,

And nothing that I am

That you are not.

Shhh

Silence is not weakness.

It speaks what words

Will always fail to say.

I am not your foe.

I will not add fuel

To your inferno.

Deprived of oxygen

The fire dies.

Shhh

Marc Erlbaum is a writer, filmmaker, and social activist.