HoneLife: Silence

"Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak knits up the o-er wrought heart and bids it break." —William Shakespeare, Macbeth

Riverview Cemetary - Hamilton, MT

HoneLife has launched, and I couldn't be more excited! Founder of the site, Jessica Wood, invited me—among many others—to be part of this new site that prompts writers, artists, photographers, and other creative folks to express their perspective on the world. And all these perspectives are "honed" around one word each week.

(For more insight into the website, visit pages About HoneLife and "How to Hone".)

Camera at the ready, pen in hand, I was determined to approach the project by going with the one thing that really stuck in mind, that wouldn't let go of me. 

I went to the site and was met with... "Silence."

Oh... Well... Hmm...

It took almost all week for me to really solidify what I wanted to say, mainly because everything I thought about wasn't about temporary silence. I kept thinking about silences that seem to be unbreakable. 

In that sense, the only long-lasting silence I know well... is death. After long reflection, here's what I decided: that death leaves loved ones behind, that death leaves the deepest longing, that death leaves the longest silence. Yet in some ways, depending on what you believe, it is not without hope.

Silence

Silence is an absence,

a lacking,

a grieving,

a remnant void

that's always lost and never filled

Yet silence is a promise,

a longing,

a trusting,

a pregnant hope

that silence never lasts forever


I'm excited to see what else develops on HoneLife, and who knows? Maybe I'll see you there.

"Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime, and falling in at night. I miss you like hell." —Edna St. Vincent Millay



In Memory of Jarden
Silent too soon
Missed by so many