Sext

Editor’s note: Sext is the sixth canonical hour in the Divine Office, observed at noon.

The silence of heaven bears down infinitely

heavier than the weight of the yammering world.

The crush I hold off with the thin ridges of my forearms.

How is it that the silence is so heavy, and so bright?

They told me to become open to receive from heaven, to dilate

the pupil and to cup the ear, as if what comes down from heaven

were a play of shadows or a faint strain of music.