Silence is

the elusive peace

that is seemingly

always interrupted

by my own loud

disturbing thoughts.

the fantastical

utopia that I aim

to someday find

in order to further

understand myself.

The silence of the night overtakes me. No sound. Just darkness. Thick. Veiling bedroom from the noises of the night. And you lying beside me. Drawing quiet breaths in concord with my pulse. Life force stretched out upon Egyptian Cotton. At peace with the turmoil of the day and of the nights past.

I reach out my hand to touch your flesh and watch silently as the goosebumps spread across your skin. If perfection had a name? It would be you my love.

It would be you resting safely at my side. No bending wills or heavy cement walls to separate me and you from our pasts. Just you and me in the silence. Veiled by the darkness of the night. Locked Away from the world. Forever.

Silence inscribed on my ceiling

canopy of unheard words.

I listen and hear

soft sound in the stillness.

I touch a lonely pebble,

hear the faint messages

enveloped in tranquility.

Total release woven

in garment of peace,

whispering when

no one is there.

No echoes of my past

disturb my hushed mind.

Accepting my submission

to peace in bucolic place,

I float gracefully into world

of unimpaired spirit.

Roadblocks to sight and sound

are excised from periphery,

releasing calmness,

restoring my psyche.

I hearken to words

that are unheard

and soundless.

Silently, I release

yesterday’s sorrow,

enveloped in serenity

cocooned in solitude.

A million times a day

It started with the morning sunlight

Often continued even after bedtime

Mom! Mom! Mom!

Wipe my butt!

Whereʼs the cookies?

Whereʼs my shoes?

Can I - Will you - Buy me -

Drive–me - Help–me - Feed me -

I need - I want - Gimme!!

I used to long for silence

I used to fantasize about changing my name

I used to get annoyed

Why is it always “MOM!"

And never "DAD!"

Then I got my wish

Suddenly

No more "MOM” 400 times a day

Not even once a day

I wished for silence

My wish was granted…

Silence is not a friend

Silence is a tricky little devil

No…..

Silence is a fucking cunt

Silence seems so attractive from afar

She makes you long for her

Burn with desire for her

Pray to God for her

Then when you finally find her

You discover her brutality

She's fʼll of sharp edges and trap doors

Steep drop offs and hairpin turns

And you realize it's not really quiet at all

Silence is an unbreakable scream

And you realize she's always been screaming

But that her continuous tone

Was easily drowned out by all the noise before

Back when your name was called

Back when you were needed

Back when you were useful and necessary

Back when you were a mother

A wife, a sister, a girlfriend, a daughter

Back when you were loved

Behind her million dollar smile

Silence has sharp teeth

She'll latch on if she can

If you can hear her,

It's already too late

The silence of a beating heart

Goes unnoticed in the absence

Of Love.

To be quiet means to die,

To vanish into the cosmos

To crumble into dust.

The silence of a bleeding heart

Gathers snapshots of memories

Of Love.

To be quiet means to suppress,

To delete all that exists,

To erase our very existence.

Silence creeps into the darkest corners of the soul

And reveals our true self

Do you thrive or die within solitude?

Energy and peace is gained by those in search of tranquility

While regrets and guilt torture sinful souls

This is the power held in silence.

The bullets in your silence are

killing me.

Left to die like a blood red rose wilting in the hot sun.

Petals drop every minute you remain quite,

feeling like eternity.

Getting bloody wounded by every hit.

<Soon I will be to numb to give a shit>

*I prefer to die by your words;

than your silence.*

S.W.~2016

In the silent night

The tick-tock of the clock

The drip-drop of the faucet

This I am much aware

How much louder my thoughts

if forced to live in silence

This I could not bear

By GR Clarke

I lay still in my bed,

I hear my heart beat

Feel it's flutter in my throat,

I wait in the dark,

in silence

for the next round.

I hear his voice,

his hateful words,

her over dramatic cries,

it escalates,

the sound of cracked wood,

echoes in my mind.

The slamming doors,

The cries.

It goes on all night

In the silence

I wait

for the next round.

master of eavesdropping,

they make me sick,

so dysfunctional,

broken.

Silence is never silent,

it always has a sound.

I wasn't there

Not me.

I own memories

Of

Another time

Another place.

A little girl

Not me

This woman

Has a voice.

We were staring at each other as the deafening sound of silence grew louder with every breath I took. The silence gnawed at my insides, it hung in the air like the suspended moment before a falling glass shatters on the ground. The silence was like a gaping void, needing to be filled with sounds, words, anything. The silence was poisonous in it's nothingness, cruelly underscoring how loud our argument had become. The silence was eerily unnatural, like a dawn devoid of birdsong, it clung to the air like a puff of cigarette smoke. Silence seeped into our every pore, a poison slowly paralyzing us from either speech or movement.