14 July 2011

Chaff and Scatter

There somewhere on the dining table, are the fragments of a life, small drifts of notes and business cards, detritus of the loose ends never quite in control. The occasional berg of paper shoved from one side of the table to another, depending on mood and circumstance.  Or size of the project to be undertaken.

Funny.  Funny peculiar, not funny as in laughing.  The big stuff has been moved out of the way, finally, picked up in a blizzard of ambition and moved to a nearby cabinet.  Took long enough, he mutters, maybe next year, a desk!  Bah.  The table serves as desk in the mornings, well, desk and buffet.  Breakfast now consumed facing the windows and a copy of something to read off to the side.  Quiet.  He wants quiet now, but the chaff is loud without saying a word.  It whispers of laziness and fractured attention...it highlights the need for quiet.

The thought raises a smile.  Quiet?  Yes, quiet.  Lately the radio has stayed off, for the first time in months.  Unusual, perhaps, for the man, but not unwelcome.  He sits quietly, slowly chewing the cud of oat cereal, and realizes that the radio stayed off because for the first time in months...his mind was quiet enough that he wanted to listen to it instead.

He sweeps his hands across the table, scattering the chaff, and reveling in serenity.  It is a good morning.

7 comments:

  1. It is only in the quiet that you can truly hear and take stock.

    "In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light . . . ." ~Mahatma Gandhi

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  2. Beautifully written. As and avid radio listener, I too appreciate occasional serene moments of silence, which choose me - not I them...

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  3. Bother - an not add was what I thought I'd written, until I looked at the screen, by which time it was too late... Perhaps I need a bit of that silence today?! ♥

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  4. wow. how appropriate you are in your timing! I have headphones in at work all day. Today, as I only work half a day, I told myself to leave the music off & listen to the world around me. I wasn't ready as the calls, sorts, coughs and chatter made me once again withdrawl back to my tunes so I can be in my world of work.

    I have a long drive this afternoon. Perhaps then I will embrace this quiet you speak of.

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  5. Your dining table sounds like mine. Mine too, contains the fragments of a life. A life that I didn't live.

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  6. from dawn to dusk, ruptured silence ensues, the birds begin their lengthy chatter

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"Let your laws come undone
Don't suffer your crimes
Let the love in your heart take control..."


-'The Hair Song', by Black Mountain

Tell me what is in your heart...