The Chamber of Voices
A Listening Room
BEFORE NAMES WERE FIXED
AND BEFORE SILENCE WAS MISTAKEN FOR ABSENCE,
THE VOICE TRAVELED.
WHAT WAS SPOKEN DID NOT VANISH.
IT PASSED FROM BREATH TO BREATH,
FROM HAND TO HAND,
FROM HEART TO HEART.
THIS CHAMBER IS SET APART
NOT TO COMMAND THE VOICE,
BUT TO RECEIVE IT.
LET WHAT HAS WAITED SPEAK.
LET WHAT HAS SPOKEN REST.
THE LINE ENDURES.
AND BEFORE SILENCE WAS MISTAKEN FOR ABSENCE,
THE VOICE TRAVELED.
WHAT WAS SPOKEN DID NOT VANISH.
IT PASSED FROM BREATH TO BREATH,
FROM HAND TO HAND,
FROM HEART TO HEART.
THIS CHAMBER IS SET APART
NOT TO COMMAND THE VOICE,
BUT TO RECEIVE IT.
LET WHAT HAS WAITED SPEAK.
LET WHAT HAS SPOKEN REST.
THE LINE ENDURES.
The fathers carried more than they revealed.
The sons learned to guard what was not spoken.
Yet the voice did not perish.
It waited.
This chamber is raised so that no gift is buried with its bearer, and no silence is mistaken for emptiness.
What is spoken here is not confession, nor display, nor plea.
It is the voice returning to its place among those who came before and those who will come after.
The sons learned to guard what was not spoken.
Yet the voice did not perish.
It waited.
This chamber is raised so that no gift is buried with its bearer, and no silence is mistaken for emptiness.
What is spoken here is not confession, nor display, nor plea.
It is the voice returning to its place among those who came before and those who will come after.
I Am That I Am