Deep in the Valley
The Peace of Silence
There is a place, deep in the valley, where the quiet is so deep that no ears are needed to hear it. You hear it with your heart and soul. It is to that quiet valley that I long to go- to lie down beside still waters, to let the peace of the silence wash over me.
I can’t write again about my dog dying – once was more than enough. Deep in this valley she lies now, dust-to-dust and bones feeding the earthworms. She was once glad upon the earth, sparking joy in our hearts, breathing us back to awareness.
Yet, could I but try again, what might come from that place of silence? Is there worth and dignity in the striving for solitude? Do Heaven and Hell exist outside the boundaries of real time? Does she wait there, deep in the valley, encased in the quiet, reflected in the clouds that drift by? Is that any different than the thoughts that drift from brain onto the page, word after word, adrift on a sea of white paper?
There are lessons to be learned in the death of one’s pet, but I am too weary to figure them out. Mine not to reason why, mine but to sit and cry.
So no, I tell you, I won’t write about the day my dog died, but I will instead follow the words from my pen across the page. Random thoughts conveying a sense of loss, or not. You choose, you the listener. As for me, my task is done.