Ode To Silence

I don’t mean to single you out

nor do I mean to draw attention to myself.

As you know, I exist in you

as we all exist in you.

My nights pour soundless like dark molasses

and my days, clenched tight by your deafening fists...

are stronger than any force I’ve known.

This beating heart, this throbbing universe

needs more than vibrations to sustain itself.

Perhaps everything exists to avoid you.

You embody empty rooms and shadows and

things that can’t breathe.

You are the heartbeat in my couch

and the pulse in my blinds.

Though even inanimate objects will eventually defy you...

you will outlast galaxies.

There is something inside you louder

than any noise.

You do not need me to make room for you.

All of empty space is where you

soundlessly stomp us out.

I make empty promises to myself each night:

Not to name the cracks on my ceiling...

Silence.

To be both gay and happy..

Silence.

Not to plea with God...

Silence.

To hold more than myself...

Silence.

Not to see answers through chilled light...

Silence.

To seek out the great sound

that was lost in your

bottomless echo...

Silence.

Copyright (c) 2010 by Vincent John Ancona