Stone Soup

Where young artists paint the world with words

The international magazine of stories, poems, and art by young writers and artists. Published continuously since 1973.

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Silent Language

There are special moments
where you connect with another living being.
When no words are spoken
you can understand each other.
Some moments you can physically feel,
as you run with your dog
and your steps fall in line, as if to the beat of a drum.
You can feel it through music as you dance together
with someone you love, twirling in and out of the rhythm
and letting it hold you close.
When you don’t even try, it can happen,
as you hold a baby close to your chest
feeling its fragile heart beat.
And the precious life in your arms
doesn’t even know the brightness of the world,
but you know each other.

When you are a baby, you don’t know how to speak
but you have a language.
It is silent and without words.
As you learn to speak,
that unspoken language gets less practice
and slowly fades away like a memory from long ago
until all you know are words
as if that is the only way to communicate.
Sometimes you can still use it
and it will kick in on its own,
that is when these moments happen.

The language is strong and quiet
like a wooded stream.
You will stop to listen to it
and feel it in you
bypassing your brain
and rushing straight to your heart.
If you hold onto that current
you can embrace it
and let it speak to you
in its own way.

Silent Language Bethany Duff
Bethany Duff, 11
Landenberg, Pennsylvania