Today I thought about how
silence could be an option
in the early fading away
of light from the windows,
in the random lamplit reading
of books most often looked at but untouched
upon my shelves — basketry, house design,
Anglo-Welsh poetry, mushrooms —

I could stay silent
for this, another night like any,
not try to add any insights to the world
(as if that were what I do anyway)

I could have stayed silent,
but then there was this.

©Wendy Mulhern
January 10, 2020