A treat

Trick
or treat?

Well,
I don’t know any tricks
Would you accept a treat?

Yes

Hmm
I wasn’t expecting anyone to come
this far into the woods tonight
I don’t have any candy

Something else will do

Hmm
How old are you?

Twenty-three

And what are you dressed up as?

Love

Nice costume

Nice pumpkin
May I come inside?

Yes, come in
Let’s see what we can find

It’s dark in here

The night is meant to be dark

Pretty candle

I offer you stillness
Would you like to sit
in silence?

Okay

And so in the dark on the Eve of All Hallows they sat
quietly in the stillness
for a while

And when a cool breeze flowed
in through a window,
a colony of bats descended
onto a large olive tree,
while crickets and frogs sang of love

And what are you dressed up as?

Nothing

And I am Love

We share a long border

A very soft border

Let’s remove the barrier
that is keeping us apart

The two beings then took off their costumes,
slipped out of their roles
and simply were
for a while

♫ ♫ ♫

Oli Baba

For a while Oli watched
as two large butterflies danced in the air,
one courting the other

♫ ♫ ♫

Moving slowly,
doing little
and letting go of everything,
Oli played his role gently and flowed
through the drama known as
Life on Earth

♫ ♫ ♫

Cooking for his friends,
sharing silence,
being still,
Oli offered peace
and love

The voice of a violin

Through the green dusk and up the path
came a young lass walking
with a violin and bow

Good evening
I offer the voice
of a violin

Welcome
We’ve been waiting
many moons to meet you

Would you like to play?

We would love to play
with you

And so Violin made music
with Harmonica and Guitar
while fireflies winked at their women
and crickets serenaded their lovers

♫ ♫ ♫

Waiting for a cloud

While waiting for a cloud to come
and cover the sun,
two friends sat in silence
in the shade of a tree
as butterflies danced
and birds sang

♫ ♫ ♫

After a few cups of tea,
a large grey cloud arrived
and mitigated the heat of the sun

The temperature dropped by about twenty degrees,
so the two friends decided it was time
to go to the market

Thank you, Cloud

Yeah, Cloud,
thanks a lot

Then they got on their bikes and rode
into town

♫ ♫ ♫

A lull in the conversation

The amount of talking going on
had become a bit much,
so a woman took out an hourglass,
set it on the table
and began to watch the fine black sand
fall through space
as the others fell silent
and returned to the stillness

In her bag she always had
a few hourglasses,
filled with black sand for silence,
a selection of different sizes:
a five-minute hourglass,
a half-hour hourglass,
a twenty-minute hourglass,
an hour hourglass

And sometimes
when the space between words,
between sentences,
between turns in a conversation
was not enough,
when a lull in the conversion would be nice,
the woman would silence her guests
with an hourglass
for a while

Pedaling through the stillness

Wearing a face empty of expression,
a man rode silently past,
pedaling calmly through the stillness

Silent strength and presence,
benevolent rule,
kindness and compassion,
tolerance
and patience,
generosity,
love

Teaching by example
because
there is not really much to say

Farewell

Two black ants lay on the floor,
one half crushed
by the step of a larger being,
the other
keeping it company,
offering soothing sounds and comforting touch
until death came calling

A silent meow

Bamboo opened her mouth
as if to say, Meow,
but instead she offered silence,
a silent meow

Together they sat on their porch,
the cat and her human,
listening to and observing
the late afternoon

Thank you
for being silent,
for being still,
for simply being