It's quiet around me

Not silent

Just quiet

I can hear the air move

Flexing its muscles

Building to a breeze

If only a window would open

My breath treads with care

Feeling the mood

Feeling the

Dip

Halation, in or ex

Would break the...

Not spell

For nothing magical

Keeps company with me

Ambience

A word associated with

Pleasantries

With relaxation

Smiles

But with sides much darker

My breath is aware

So takes care

Slipping into the air

Like lovers

Sliding beneath

Covers

It's quiet around me

Not silent

Just a world unwilling

To intrude

To spoil

A bird calls to me

Or to another

Or to no one and

Nothing

A car's horn blasts

Not in response

But in comradeship

Neither touch me

Kept at bay by

The stillness

In me

It's quiet around me

Inside I am cacophonous

Do you ever feel like you need to take a breath? Do you ever sit and feel the world takes a step back while you collect yourself? Or, at least, wish it would? I live in an area where there's lots of woodland. Something I don't do nearly often enough, is take the time to walk in it or take my dogs. There's also long stretches of beach, where I can stand and feel everything is away.

Writing this reminds me I need to do that more. Or, if I can't, let the quiet and the air and my senses hold it off, even for a little while (I just heard that short line in the song currently playing - All You need by The Jezebels - as I was writing it).

I feel, if I did, the stampede of thoughts and feelings and everything inside of me, because I often do, indeed, feel cacophonous, would shrink a little. Quieten, if only for a second. I couldn't necessarily hear myself think, but I could think about thinking. My heart could beat without trying to avoid being trampled.

For yourselves, be sure to take time. Whether that's to relax, to speak to a friend or loved one, to read or write or listen to music or dance... or just be, doesn't matter. It's a moment for you.

You're worth it. You deserve it. You need it.

Thank you to Carolyn_Hill for prompting me to take a moment for myself today, which resulted in this poem. I recommend taking a look at her book Forest Fables. The idea behind it, and its execution, is very cool.