Silence

There is something so beautiful about silence

Quietness

The emptying of our mind

A time out

For this fullness of our soul.

A thick enough winter snow

Is like a deadening of soundwaves distant

And an amplification of the near

The voice defining my home in this wooded county of hills.

Though not easy to see

Everywhere

When you and I are present

There are places of silence where you and I can be.

— Neil Frederick, Brown County

Outside Ourselves

Going outside

We don’t go outside a door

We go outside ourselves,

This nature that reminds us

Of what little we truly know.

What could be more wondrous?

— Neil Frederick, Brown County

The Rise

I think for me to love

With my whole

And what I think I bring

I simply must, with difficulty

Let go of everything

Like a red balloon

That needs the sky.

— Neil Frederick, Brown County