Note: Like many who can not sleep, I awaken in the

dead of night. And so I spoke with a female

gnome who wrote this poem.

Copyright © 2009 by William R. Mistele

Poem by a Female Gnome Magician

Come away with me

On a dark journey

Into the heart of silence

Take the first step

It is just beneath your breath

Where your diaphragm is rising and falling

Here it is quiet and calm

Like a cool pond beneath a mountain

The seed that falls to the earth

And lingers beneath the ground

During the dark months of winter

Knows this way

The bear entering his cave

Turning his back on the light of day

Though he smells with acute sensitivity

From his senses he turns away

To hibernate

His body knows the way

The sandstone in the mountain butte

Russet and crimson its hues

As twilight fades

So at peace, its stillness so complete

It awakens inside a dream

From another age

It is true the woman you use

As an image and a symbol is fragile

Yet her beauty is distilled

From the light of Dawn

A goddess who walks the earth around

The sun sends his rays

To anoint her every day

This to proclaim:

“In the cutting edge of the moment

Is an abyss of silence,

I cross over it

Again and again

To touch her skin

My purpose? To discover

How she within me is hidden

In the dark heart of silence

Is hidden this wonder:

Here time slows

The river no longer flows

The ages are put on hold

The spell of motion and action halt

In silence the dreams of what shall be

Are clearly seen

Without anxiety

Though different

The past and future are not separate

They join in this moment

Here at last is found

A stillness that embraces the universe.

And now,

My journey complete,

I fall asleep.