Haiku: Quotidian Quietude

Now that it’s Fall, sunrise occurs later, which provides me with some time in the morning to read, write, attend to indoor tasks, or simply think while it’s dark and quiet…before I need to go out and tend the animals. It’s a welcome period in days that sometimes feel like I’m racing the clock.

When it’s dark outside, the world simply feels still and hushed, as if a collective breath is being held until dawn. Of course, I know that there are many nocturnal creatures that depend on the cover of darkness to do their living – but they, too, are quiet.

Without distractions, it’s a good time for me to write or brainstorm (which includes simply letting my mind go down those rabbit holes of thought). I might wonder what’s happened to Gaston? Why haven’t we heard from him after his last scary experience in the Gray? Well, in the quiet hours, I realize that I do know what’s happened to Gaston. And with more quiet time, you may know soon, too.

Quiet time = creative time for me. It’s in those periods that I find the threads that, once woven together, become a story or a poem. Sometimes inspiration strikes at inopportune times, like in the middle of the night or while I’m filling a water bucket, but the common thread is that when I can free my mind of distractions, creativity flows.

So, before the harshness of daylight makes woolgathering seem silly and unproductive, I welcome the halcyon hours. In that chrysalis, ideas are coalescing and growing, and I’m eager to see them emerge.

A bit of perspective: the power went out for about half an hour during the day recently, and it made me realize that complete silence can actually be jarring at first – no mechanical hums from appliances or HVAC, no softly-playing music; essentially, no background of “white noise”. Then, I noticed that I could hear the birds singing outside.

Read more about the importance of quiet time, including its health benefits, here.