Still

The world did not come today.
It passed by, soft-footed,
left no echo on the page.

I waited without waiting,
I asked without asking,
but I let the silence stretch itself
like a shadow in the sun.

No one knocked.
No one called.
And yet the air
was never empty.

It held me
the way the sky holds
a drifting cloud…
no question,
no need,
no rush.

What is made,
even when unseen,
even when untouched,
always remains.

In the stillness of the day
the sky changes its colours
and the sounds
soften into silence.

Nothing was asked of me.
No one requested my presence.
Still, I answered.
I showed up.
Still.