Silence

Down by the river in the moonlight

I sail paper boats.

Filled with jasmine

Sandalwood, vermillion

They glide downstream

In ones and twos and threes.

When the bells ring

And the conchshells blow

When the lamps blaze tall

The chants echo.

The galaxy embraces

The world below.

This silence is but

its own echo.

----15.1.13