Star Songs

image: Redd Walitzki

Star Songs

If you sit still and listen to silence long enough

You can hear the steady buzz of the world.
Silence is never truly silent.
Inside its self-preserved dome of peace

Silence hums a cyclical song.
Melodic histories.
It woos us into subconscious understanding
With its complex lullaby.
It tells us time and time again in different ways
How our history is
Playing out before us;

How our present is just the past verse sung
To an alternate beat

Or with a new instrument.
The world is in a constant state of rotation.
With each turn on our axis

We create a fresh verse

But the sad reality of this lullaby
Is that it is indeed cyclical.
We are doomed to revert
Back to a state of chorus

Only to rise into a verse
With altered undulation.
We are captured by a dance
Where our steps are determined by the music
That history decides to play.

Lying on the slope of a hill near the crest

When the night sky is clear of clouds
And the moon decides to hide

You will see a vast expanse of stars.

It is breathtaking.
It is in that moment

As grass tickles your ears and wind whispers to you
Do you come to a realization that our world
Is either very small or large.

You discover a sense of where we are in the universe.
Combine this illumination
With silence.
All at once you are overcome with your realities
Philosophies and dreams
And then

When it feels like the sensation is overwhelming

You suddenly find yourself at peace -
Embraced.
You are in the front row of an orchestra.

A connection is made and all the questions
You have ever felt inside
About your existence bubble outward.
Ancients before you described the stars as history
Transcribed by the gods

And as you stare into them

Past them

You notice that the stars form the notes on a musical staff.
Each star is a point in your history

The world's history

Strung together by nature to form the quivering hum you now feel.

I think

It is our nature in times of self-revelation that we analyze
We delve into the deeper aspects of our curiosity.
One question is bouncing around in your head

More than others, however.
Where are we now?
You wrap your arms under your head and think.
You remember the history taught to you in middle school
And you recall current events that you are so apt
To stay up to date with now that you are in adulthood.
Are we dancing to the beat of a happy verse?
Something tumultuous
Relaying a sense of change?
Or steady and familiar like the chorus?
How closely does this turn of the axis resemble the past?
How radically unique?
Which notes are my own?

It would appear

If we are destined to dance

That our futures are laid out before us without the hope
For significant change.
We will ebb and flow consistently.
Why?
Our ancestors believed that there was the ability in us

A gift of sorts which nature grants
That beckons us to change the tune.
If we lie complacent

Satisfied to slumber as the lullaby resonates
Merely in the background of existence

Then we will have no significance to the song.
We will dance as we were meant to dance

Not jive or do the robot or weep interpretively.
And although with each generation

The past is a looming presence

Waiting to be played again
The same way

We must accept the gift nature has given us.
Be determined

To alter the verse.
Play the notes in the direction
We want our history to unfold.

Be the next whole note to appear on the staff.
Inspire jazz.
Inspire change.

Inspire the perfect song that when the time comes

For it to repeat itself

We will be satisfied to slumber.

Reviews

[Vidya Bacchus]

A most potent thought provoking piece .I wonder.......

[R. L. Hill]

To wonder indeed...

[Vidya Bacchus]

.................:)

[ferousfinite]

It's like a mini epic. Possible prologue to a great saga perhaps...

[R. L. Hill]

I have to thank you for giving me this perspective for this poem. I had never considered its potential for such a write till now. I am very highly considering your suggestion. I am refreshing myself with the Odyssey this weekend in preparation to formulate an epic. Thank you kindly for the muse.

[ferousfinite]

Much obliged! I am glad be be your inspiration.

[ferousfinite]

Feel free to look over what writing I have shared.

[R. L. Hill]

Most definitely

[Raymond Federle]

Deeply introspective and thought provoking. Within the answers always lay more questions. Well done! :)

[R. L. Hill]

Thank you, Ray! I personally like this profile pic of yours the best

[Raymond Federle]

Well... I am a sexy beast. :P

[R. L. Hill]

Most definitely ^_^

[Weeping Angel]

i love this. this is beautiful.

[R. L. Hill]

Thank you!

[Baby Ricochet]

Silence does have it's own song. That's for sure

[R. L. Hill]

Indeed, friend

[Meraki]

Inspirational! Sounds like my nights when I can't, it gave me chills at the end. It really makes you want to go out and start changing and put the world into an era of peace. Well it's quite comical in my mind, walk into Capitol Hill, snap my fingers and shout: "we need peace!" Then bam spreads like gossip in high school and everyone agrees. Next thing you know world peace haha! If things were that easy. Wonderfully written :D

[R. L. Hill]

Too bad that they aren't that easy! Dang. Haha. Thank you ^_^

[Meraki]

I think I laughed too hard at my own joke. It was my pleasure to read this. Causes you to reflect on the past to set your future.

[R. L. Hill]

Exactly! I'm glad you laughed. We all need to be able to laugh at our own jokes.

[Scott Metro]

One of your best...at least one of my favorites from you.
This is very deep and so different from your other stuff.
Very observant...microscopic view of time and humanity.

Excellent..very educated write.
Scott

[R. L. Hill]

Thank you. This was an easy that I felt flowed well as a poem. It's very to the point rather than my typically more "artsy" work, I know. I'm glad that you found it observant. That is a beautiful word ^^ Thank you

[Scott Metro]

My pleasure...this demonstrated your depth...bravo
S.

[R. L. Hill]

I'm blushing. Thanks so much

[Scott Metro]

:)
Scott.......