Whisper

Whisper, whisper, softer now. Hush. The cave drafts quiet moans. It drips, drops pellets of dew. Tapping, tapping. The echoes slapping the stone walls like wooden shoes.

Is light atop the black? Up there, pointing finger trying to decide. A stare is certifiably unreliable. The spots stack in your sight making no conclusion viable. Is it night, the light, the moon? Certifiable?

Right, left wander further. Time a privilege to outside. Right, right, not again. A loop or turn to deeper. This side cold, the other chilled. That side absent, the other vacant. Tripping, bold skipping. The mind won’t cease to wonder.

But there! A voice. The sighing of the walls? You are waiting for a call. Someone is coming. The cavern squalls. Infant cries. Lullabies. An opening in the distance!

Night it is, no light to lead. Your eyes aren’t finished yet. But, fear grips, rips your feet. Beyond the entrance is unforeseen. It does not beckon. It does not invite. Reckon your heart’s delight. Soul afright. Quiet, not quite. But wait, here now. Someone is coming. His entrance, expected might.

Sudden scream so shrill. Your body scampers back. Shrieking, splitting, screeching, spitting, pointed like a knife. Is it him? A stammer comes to life. The earth tears at the pain. The walls dust the tunnel with crumbles as the rock break in pieces. Your heartbeat slows the sound. Thump, thump. Hush, hush. The wind has spoken to you.

The cry slithers away, but you stumble as the earth begins to shake. The cave splitting, cracking as the quake mounts and builds dropping the ceiling like snowflakes. Your arms fly out, mouth caught in a net. Legs wide, terror. Regret. Is it his footsteps that make the mountains tremble? No, he does not show.

Then, like fury from the Heavens fire! Dousing the entrance with flame. Will it consume you? The drip, drops of dew like mice against a lion. Body full of shame, you have fallen on your back, face scorched with heat. Did he form the fire? Will he walk through the red or did he send it to those led astray? No, it is not he.

In the silence between beats of your heart, in the pause amidst repeated breaths, a low whisper. Hush, hush. Soft, gentle. You know the voice, recognize the source. Your friend, he comes in a hum. You stand, mend, and walk to the entrance.

It was not my hollering in the thunderous wind. It was not my footsteps in the earthquake. It was not my fury in the flames. I was not in those things. Whisper, Whisper.

Peace, peace. Release.

But tell me, you listen with tears. Why is it that you are here? Whispering, whispering in the cave.