Tuesday, January 9, 2018


Shared Silences
Jan 7 2018


In silence, we're most often alone;
letting the mind wander
listening to our own thoughts.

But I see the old couple
dining together
who haven't said a word.
Do they enjoy the shared silence?
Or after all these years
have they run out of things to say?

Either way
they seem at ease with this;
where most of us
would feel the awkward heat
of social expectation
burning ears and tongues.
An older couple
who are still in love,
but whose infatuation
has naturally given way
to the quiet attachment of age.

I envy their comfort,
even if it's only the residue
of resigned familiarity.
Because the pressure of speech
builds in us like steam
in a closed vessel
testing its strength;
the social grooming, polite inanities,
the need to display
find meaning
connect.

We may be visual creatures,
but hearing is the most powerful sense;
setting-off alarms
that make the pulse quicken, muscles tense,
acting at a distance
in spite of walls
darkness
denial.
And most of all, the spoken voice;
because the power of speech
is the fundamental thing
that makes us human,
even a simple conversation
about the day's weather
idle gossip
or really nothing at all.

He glances up, she passes the salt.
Who knows
If under the table
their feet surreptitiously touch?
If in the exchange
their fingers brushed briefly?

Man and wife, I assume
for no good reason at all.
An indifferent pair
seated across a table,
blank looks, and distant gazes
as they dully chew their food?
Or a constant couple
who feel no urge to talk,
sitting together
in well-contented calm?

Deaf
to the clatter of plates
the buzz of the crowd.
A sentimental song
from when they were young
filling in the lulls.

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