The Quiet

(photograph courtesy of Francletography, ©2011, www.Francletography.com)

The Quiet

I love when the world goes quiet and still;

When the spinning whirling twirling comes to a halt,

When everything stops, pauses, 

ceases for a moment in time.

When everything is quiet.

Unlike many, this absence goes not give me a chill –

I am not afraid to be still.

Rather, I find it perfect, peaceful, sublime.

The eye of my storm.

If it were up to me, there would be mandatory silence

Enforced by the universe

At regular intervals throughout the day –

Null moments, 
Required time to just sit and 

be ruled by calm and patience;

No action allowed –

Empty time, devoid of work, absent all play.

My own little black hole.

I need time to just be – not be helpful 

or be clever or be nice, 

Not to worry about you or me or 

the price of tea in China

But to just exist, lost in my own world, my own head,

Sitting in my own quiet dark mental corner, 

facing the wall.

I am not a rock, don’t want to be alone forever, 

am not made of ice; 

No man is an island, and I am no man.

I need interaction too, need love and 

conversation as much as water or bread.

I didn’t always.  You gave me that, my love, 

and I can never thank you enough.

But handfuls of placid moments, 

scattered here and there

Are still a part of who I am,

Are essential to my psychological welfare.

Without them, I am not me.  

Even with you.


© Jill Elizabeth Arent Franclemont

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Jill Elizabeth Arent Franclemont, a  former corporate attorney and government relations and health policy executive, walked away (well, skipped actually) from the big-city worlds of corporate and political America and headed for a more literary life (equally challenging, but infinitely more enjoyable).  Visit Jill at All Things Jill-Elizabeth and leave a comment about her poem below.

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