My Tongue is Resting in My Mouth

“When you’ve been able to still the noise inside of you, when you’ve been able to establish a thundering silence in you, you begin to hear the deepest kind of calling from within yourself. Your heart is calling.” Thich Nhat Hanh

The words we speak,
Amma told me long ago,
are far more powerful
than innumerable suns.
Words spoken in love
are as fragrant, she said,
as the most fragrant of blossoms.
Every word a gift
of Devi Saraswati,
a nectar as precious
as the waters of Lakshmi.

Now the learning deepens:
It’s time to live below the chatter,
the banter of my mind.
It’s time for me to live
from the quiet hush of my heart.
A lifetime of talking, and I find—
my smile as true and trusting
as the smile of the child in the womb–
that beneath the words
is endless space of knowing.

My tongue is resting in my mouth,
my jaw is growing supple,
my lips have lost their purse.
When I speak, a bit less often,
words emerge in trust,
slower, more fragrant, from the depths.
The river of words that does love to rush
now can also thread and wind,
wander and pause, and even, wait.
Boundless silence
charges my heart and my words.

©Susa Silvermarie 2022
gratitude to Amma Sri Karunamayi
https://www.facebook.com/AmmaSriKarunamayi/