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.