Myra Klockenbrink - June 3, Iyengar II & I

An Ever Joyful Yoga supporter/fellow Iyenegar Yoga Teacher wrote this beauty, excerpted from a longer piece. My favorite “translation” of the mantra AUM (generally acknowledged to be untranslatable), is “the sound of the universe, present in all things”. Personally, I love the sound of garbage trucks but I know not everyone does. Made me think - what is “sound”, “song”, “noise”, in the ear of the listener?

NOISE

Before it is morning

when the sun is still

rolling over the Atlantic Ocean

and it is midnight in Japan

it is very quiet

very easy to sit in silence

We are still

halfway between dreams

and daytime dramas

we can listen carefully

to the clear ring of no sound

Until as the light turns

and begins to take on color

the garbage truck rolls up the street

chuffing and braking

the men's voices as they call

to one another a clarion

of the brightening light

The birds pitch in

each pressing their own key

repeat repeat repeat

the garbage truck leads the parade

cars line up behind it

some old metal cabinet

now being fitted into its maw

Still the silence rings

holding the truck, the humming cars,

the repeating birds

and the scratch of the pen across the paper

For a time no-sound sounds

and there is nothing

only this breath

…