I have known the peace of quiet mornings
when gentle dawn is forming
just above a distant ridge 
and the sky first shows its murmuring colors
while locust trees silhouette their delicate lace
against the face of day's bright dawning.

I have known the joy of good company,
close friends spending hours of evening
in relaxed conversation,
intimate moments of introspection,
boisterous laughter, soft teasing,
eyes and hearts exchanging unspoken meanings.

I have known the ache of empty nights,
the blight of pain and sorrow
voiding tomorrow of its secret hopes,
moping mornings and hollow days
when the path through the maze
seems barely worth the effort of breath.

I have known a deepness of love
beyond anything I had ever imagined,
a closeness beyond intimate
when souls seem intertwined
and take flight to some other place
undefined by time and space.

I have known in music shared
with those for whom I've cared,
a unique and special making and playing,
an inner satisfaction almost beyond framing,
strings and voices vibrating a genuine pleasure
with these children and friends that I treasure.

But beyond all of this I have found a lifting
that only comes when my soul is submerged and yielding,
when heart and mind, body and spirit
open into that place of nearing
where divine and mortal meet together
in a place called Worship.


H. Arnett
9/27/2021