Silence

It is the silence which engaged my ear

at first, as I escaped the thunderous cloud

and soothed the raucous sound I always fear

of human voices unrestrained, allowed

to rend the peace of soundless moments, dear

to me and hard to come by in the city’s crowd.

There are some folk who revel in a crowd

of those for whom the noise is no offence to ear:

but hold the assault on senses specially dear.

And more and more they enter in that cloud,

And more and more the dance, the drugs are loud

the more they banish silence that they fear.

And what is there in silence that they fear?

And why do they seek safety in the crowd

to pitch the highest decibels allowed

that crack and strain the cochlea of the ear?

So they their precious hearing sense becloud

and are regardless of the price most dear.

Now in the Bible there are words most clear

which some of righteous turn of mind do fear.

They tell of silence in celestial cloud

which lasted thirty minutes when the angelic crowd

suspended all communication by ear

and not a word was spoken out aloud.

Good God! For thirty minutes disallowed!

The heavenly host could not believe its ear.

But God continued in his tone most dear,

‘I’m reaching saturation point I fear,

with all these invocations that be-crowd

the silent space I need upon this cloud!’

And so I, too, escape the thunderous cloud

of human voices unrestrained, allowed

to rend the peace of soundless moments, fear

to make it hard to sensitise the ear

to strains emitting from a stranger crowd

than that of planet earth. I hold this dear.

And from that stranger crowd comes music dear

from mystic cloud, earth’s silence does allow.

Puts fear aside to tune the inner ear.