Silence comes when all judgements go.
When the mind stops going to and fro.
Here a thought that wants to natter.
There a grief that wants to shatter.
None of this can really matter.

A female cardinal at the glass
I see her, letting life just pass.
The brittle leaves are silent in
the absence of a whipping wind.

The cardinal now looks at me.
I think, “God bless you, you are free.”
And the same thought returns to me.
We all live on the same tree.

Silence comes when judgements go.
Everything falls in a row.
Gratitude for each new song
because each leaf just lasts so long.
None of us can do it wrong
as long as we sing our own sweet song.

Vicki Woodyard
Author, Bigger Than The Sky