Expressing the Inexpressible

After silence, that which comes nearest
to expressing the inexpressible is music.
Aldous Huxley

This much I know:
   words fall far short
      when it comes to expressing the inexpressible.
Human language can only feebly point in that direction.
Human words can make the tiniest of starts,
   saying, “Here’s a hint of a hint.”
Ultimately, however, words are constitutionally
   not up to the task.
The very sentences to which I resort here
   turn embarrassingly mute.
I believe, like Huxley,
   that music comes closer to being that voice.
But I know, deep inside,
   far beyond any other knowing,
      that pure silence comes closest of all.
That’s why from time to time
   I must wrap myself around my camera.
The quiet of photography
   and the silence of the finished photograph
      are eloquent in the way that surpasses all words.
Time after time my camera says, “Shhhh!”
I do my best to obey.