Still Forms II

A cadence completes itself not in its last mark, but in the quiet that opens after.

By now the forms have pared almost to nothing, a few pale marks drawn back to the edges, framing rather than filling. At the centre, the dark ground is wide and unbroken, and those few seem to hold its silence in place rather than break it. They are the last beats before a rest, and the rest is the greater part of the music.

Silence is where every rhythm was always heading. What they leave unsaid has become the fullest thing here, and they ask only to keep its edges quiet.

A few marks hold the edges, and the great stillness they surround is given the last word: unhurried, complete, and asking for nothing more.