Stillness would be even better than listening.  Ha.  I crave stillness.  Sometimes it feels like isolation, but the empty sound, the quiet room is so luxurious.  Years of siblings and children and partners and work and crowds settle so far in the background to a still room.

Still waters reveal the deep.  If I release the chatter of my brain onto paper–the screen, actually–a breeze goes through my mind and the fragrance of lavender shifts my head and heart into another dimension.  Not a place, or a face, but dry sweet flower meadow. 

I crystalize that scent and claim its infinite stillness through this day.  As I am still and aware of those who use me as a screen to clear out the chatter of their bickering voices.  I rest against the Tree of Life and watch them dance.