The Spring Has Many Silences

The spring has many sounds:
Roller skates grind the pavement to noisy dust.
Birds chop the still air into small melodies.
The wind forgets to be the weather for a time
And whispers old advice for summer.
The sea stretches itself
And gently creaks and cracks its bones….

The spring has many silences:
Buds are mysteriously unbound
With a discreet significance,
And buds say nothing.

There are things that even the wind will not betray.
Earth puts her finger to her lips
And muffles there her quiet, quick activity….

Do not wonder at me
That I am hushed
This April night beside you.

The spring has many silences.

Laura Riding Jackson, born on January 16, 1901, in New York City, was a poet, essayist, novelist, short story writer, and critic. She was the author of many titles, including The Close Chaplet (Hogarth Press, 1926) and The Telling (Athlone Press, 1972). She died on September 2, 1991.