Martin Willitts, Jr.: "When Stillness Is Heard"

There was nothing there when I heard a voice.
Haven’t you had a strangeness like this?
I did not respond right away, ignoring it,
and its restlessness increased.
I chucked it off as imagination.
Haven’t you ignored queasy feelings?
Perhaps it was from the empty fields,
but there was stillness in the grass and air.
This uneasiness followed me into the car
and went with me.
When stillness is so quiet, nothing is heard.
There was nothing in my house.
Nothing in the sky. Nothing in the isolated miles.
The voice persisted.
Ever ignore something that refused to be ignored?
It was telling me to enjoy and love.
The message was everywhere it needed to be.
All I had to do was listen—then it was everywhere.

"When Stillness Is Heard" by Martin Willitts, Jr. Text as published in Numinous: Spiritual Poetry (Issue 7, 2011).

Art credit: Untitled image by unknown photographer.