Silence shine When the silence goes over the mountains And when it goes down into the sea We never know how far it’s going to go In the sea or in the trees And the silence spreads so far away That no one can say When you look over and around You’ll see a rainbow that shines with silence And you’ll see everywhere this thing wherever you go Then think about it in your mind If you look at the sky in your silence Why does the silence shine all over ’Cause silence is so beautiful and fun And silence goes all over the world where you can see Silence trees Trees have silence in them Trees spread the silence and the wind all over In perfect silence Of the leaves in the trees You know why Well, you’ll see How cool is this world with these trees These trees bring everything to you These trees shed you from the sun If it’s so sunny That’s right Do you want to see more with me? Shining rainbow Rainbows spread across the world Even with a bit of silence And you know that already ’Cause silence is everywhere ’Cause everybody sings songs of silence You already know that Yes, that’s true Would you like to come with me To see a bit more? You would? Then just come with me to see more And more and more and more The leaves and the trees When the leaves go in the trees They make a cradle They make a sound like a lullaby They make the cool wind And the air for us to breathe And they make you sing a song That’s what everybody says And so that’s true While they whisper in the breeze And while they sing songs That’s the truth Oh yes, you say The ages While you grow and grow and grow While you continue growing forever But one day you’ll die Yes, that’s true All of that is true Yes, yes, yes Okay, okay Let’s continue This fabulous day Let’s continue traveling past this song Quietly Like silence You know that already Now that is true Oh yes, oh yes Yes, yes, yes Okay, okay That’s the song That we are done with today Eleonore Lecue, 6Asheville, NC
January 2019
Tick Tock
Colored pencil Marco Lu, 12Champaign, IL
The Pendulum
Most nights, my cat stares at the grandfather clock in the living room. She is a grey tabby with splotches of black and white. Her eyes are golden and edged in greenish blue, like a miniature painting of the sun over a forest, or a mood ring, because you never know when the colors will change. When she is calm, you see more of the gold, flickering. But when she is scared, her pupils are large and black, and you notice more of the green, which is the way she looks before the clock at night—her back arched, her fur raised like small tufts of grass. She stares at the oval shape of the clock as if it is the moon revolving around the earth and the earth around the sun. When the clock sounds on the hour, her ears twitch, but she doesn’t move. She simply resets her eyes, refastening them to the pendulum’s sway. Unlike my cat, I think this time might have been better spent outside in the fresh air like my mother always wants me to do. But for my cat, no second is wasted; she merely sees and does: when she is hungry, she eats, when she is tired, she sleeps, and when she is frisky, she scratches the furniture, no matter how much we scold her. When she is happy, she purrs, or she brushes her side against my leg, nudging her head and nose into my wrist when I reach down to pet her as if she is pleading, but for what I am never sure: more food, a toy, my lap? I never know exactly what she wants except that when I am with her, I am warm and calm, certain there is still enough time for everything. Sabrina Guo, 12Oyster Bay, NYMarco Lu, 12Champaign, IL
