the dark night - for the soul

the heavenly turtle
doesn't know why they call her like this
nor is she in a hurry to know
this can wait just as always

she looks out of her shell
sees the usual fuss, then she sighs
they are all so incredibly fast
with their causes for scurry

she doesn't compete
while she pulls her paws out of the shell
they have lived, they have died and again
then the tail needs attention...

she doesn't compare
she feels so unforgivably fast
always crawling ahead of herself
as if something was waiting

betraying herself
for a leaf to chew on at sunset
for a beautiful view between blinks
for a pond to wash up in

she's soothing herself
saying: this won't take long - just a day
back and forth, there and back before dark
shan't I hurry, however?

she's getting things done
to get back in the dark before dark
where her heart is still waiting for her
there within, where her heart lives

the dark night of the soul
do they know much about these things?
it's right here in the middle of the crowd
that her heart's almost absent

the dark night of the soul
it ends  just after dark - for a night
when she's back to her heart, there within
where they're getting together

there in the shell
she is meeting herself as a whole
she is looking within in the dark
and time stops until morning...

they worship her saying:
you, the ancient one, were there before
even be that the case - what's the pride?
then there's a reason for doubt

she's not alone
there's a friend old enough to stay still
wise enough to keep quiet for good
mr. redwood the giant

she thinks he alone
understands how she feels there within
though he'd hardly have uttered a word
so she knows that he knows, then

there was no sign
that he noticed her presence just once
there's no change whatsoever in him
so she thinks he's her master

mr. redwood the giant
doesn't care which leaf she would chew on
what time she takes her bath in the pond
from which paw she starts crawling

together they sit
through the night - having nothing to say
having nothing to do anymore
and she knows - something's changing

so chatty a turtle
she would ask him a question at times
listening then to the silence within
that is always the answer

- I was there before
so they say - she is asking this time -
but you're certainly older than me
and so are earth and heaven...

she's listening again
to the silence she's used to quite well
but the silence is speaking this time
just one word for the answer

"no" is the word
she is so overwhelmed by the fact
that she could even hear him at all
mr. redwood the giant

the word is still "no"
violating her little common sense
overthrowing her world upside down
which means death for a turtle

she doesn't mind
all she wants is to know - in what sense?
what is it that he means by that "no" -
denying the obvious?

- see for yourself
(mr. redwood is talking to her!!!)
- you were there then you met me one day
so with earth and with heaven

you are there first
then you see things appearing to you
you're before - then they come to be seen
not the other way round

it's always like this
no exceptions at all to this rule
you are that which is prior to things
all the things that you know of

- mr. redwood - but wait
things - they could have existed before
it's just that I have met them one day
that's the usual logic

- "no" is the word
this assumption is only a thought
and you were there before it appeared
just a moment ago, friend

see for yourself
this is always like this with them things
they need you to exist in your view
they have no other place to

it's always like this
you are first - they are later, my friend
then you see them all go as you stay
so, you are - things just happen

I've nothing to add
I have spent all my words for this age
just one thing - just before silence falls:
who are you then - what are you?

she doesn't rush
knowing all of her answers are fake
she feels all of her life upside down
which means death for a turtle

she doesn't mind
since she knows what to seek she will find
and she knows where to look all too well
for the answers that matter

there in the dark
there within, where her heart is alive
there she always has someone to ask
and she knows what to ask now

up there in the dark
mr. redwood is rustling a little
humming softly his blessings to her
for the age of the silence

the heavenly turtle
which was there before heaven and earth
crawling deeper and deeper within
meets her heart, asks a question