for robin

I have been trying to figure out a way to send this to you, Robin. I finally decided to tack it up on my blog. I read this awhile ago and it instantly reminded me of you, the harmonious brilliance you share with all of us who read your blog. After reading this again and again I found myself wondering if there might be a few special people out there who can hear or perhaps feel the deeper groove of life. If so, you are definitely one of these people, Robin.

What the Dog Perhaps Hears
Lisel Mueller

If an inaudible whistle
blown between our lips
can send him home to us,
then silence is perhaps
the sound of spiders breathing
and roots mining the earth;
it may be asparagus heaving,
headfirst, into the light
and the long brown sound
of cracked cups, when it happens.
We would like to ask the dog
if there is a continuous whir
because the child in the house
keeps growing, if the snake
really stretches full length
without a click and the sun
breaks through clouds without
a decibel of effort,
whether in autumn, when the trees
dry up their wells, there isn’t a shudder
too high for us to hear.

What is it like up there
above the shut-off level
of our simple ears?
For us there was no birth cry,
the newborn bird is suddenly here,
the egg broken, the nest alive,
and we heard nothing when the world changed.