What is the most perfect music?

Silence.

~ Sting

In London, I worked with some teens to free their powers of poetry. To feed the muses, I asked the girls to write a poem starting with this line from Rumi:

“We have fallen into the place where everything is music.”

Here are their creations:

Rashana

We have fallen in the place
where everything is music.

From the beat of your chest,
to the oceans and the seas –

waves of mood-setters
playing that magnificent tune.

Speaking to you, calling out to you –

from behind the shadows
of the trees,

down to the last grain of sand –

blares that burning
sweet melody,

fluorescent in all its beauty
and glory.

Tides are put to rest in disbelief.

Carmen

We have fallen
into the place

where everything
is music.

Music affects the soul
in ways that a surgeon

never could,

and it gathers space
for a new sound

to complete the orchestra,

along the road

we call “life.”

Silence is

the loudest beat
in a symphony.

Hannah

We have fallen into the place

where everything is music.

The rushing of wind mixes
with people’s meaningless chatter.

The beating of birds’ wings mingles
with the sea’s angry movements.

As I lie here I imagine
the rapid beats of my heart

sending trembles
through the ground.

Fear and passion all in one.

But, above it all, an unheard silence
lingers in the air.

Like a mystical ghost,
an unwanted stranger.

Now, stop and listen.