interweaving
the strings of silence
with moonlight
until this solitude
becomes a symphony
Take 5ive, 1, 2021
Hifsa Ashraf
Commentary: Enhanced by the effective use of metaphors (interweaving/weaving "together;" moonlight, Buddhist metaphor for enlightenment; strings of (meditative) silence), Hifsa's tanka builds, line by line, to a thematically significant and multi-sensorily effective ending that reveals the theme of a "symphony of silence."
Her thought-provoking tanka reminds me of the following passage on the difference between loneliness and solitude:
Loneliness is small; solitude is large. Loneliness closes in around you; solitude expands toward the infinite. Loneliness has its roots in words, in an internal conversation that nobody answers; "solitude has its roots in the great silence of eternity..."
"In solitude silence becomes a symphony." Time changes from a series of moments strung together into a seamless motion riding on the rhythms of the stars. Loneliness is banished, solitude is in full flower, and we are one with the pulse of life and the flow of time...
-- Kent Nerburn, Simple Truths
And it might be interesting to do a comparative reading of my tanka below where the "mythological art of weaving" as a "writing metaphor" is explored:
this winter mist ...
like Penelope I weave
and unweave
a shroud of words
to ward off loneliness
Special Feature: Myths and the Creative Imagination, Atlas Poetica, 2015
FYI: The ancient art of weaving is a profound "metaphor for recognizing health and wholeness as the primary state, and overcoming the blockages of seemingly broken connections."
