The Coo-Coo Clock Companion

Today I sat in the house and listened.

Silence has a sound and it's louder than
the train whistle
and the barking dog
and the buzzing in my head.

I took some time and gave it my attention.
There's some thing in silence.
A thing of power and depth.
A thing inside me and out.

I want more of it.

Listen to it. It's a big sound. You can't miss it.

I wonder what it would sound like if for one minute
all sound on the planet was ceased. If everyone could
just stop what they're doing and stand still and be quiet.
All cars, all machines, all telephones and televisions and radios,
everything.

It'd probably kill us.

___________________________________________________

The Man returned to the place where all roads lead.

The day before he left I made him stop talking and listen to the quiet.
I told him that that was what I had to look forward to in the weeks ahead.

He heard it, too.

Now the coo-coo clock is my companion.
It ticks away the seconds
and pops out to say hello
on the hour
and the half hour...
actually it says "coo-coo,"
but I pretend it is saying hello.

Other than that I'm raking the leaves,
the mountains of leaves,
the endless prairie of leaves,
the oceans of leaves,
all consuming,
never ending,
eternal,
leaves.

If we used leaves instead of dollars for currency
I could personally bail us out of the national financial crisis
and, in addition, give every citizen a five thousand leaf
tax incentive stimulus check to be used however they want.

I have helpers.
Henry VIII. He's a squirrel and likes peanuts.
Jester The Bluejay likes to come in and snatch away the peanuts
which really gets H the 8th's goat.

If they could talk I'd bring them in the house.
The four of us could just sit there and have a cup of tea
or maybe play cards.
Me and Henry VIII and Jester and Coo-Coo.