It’s quiet

Dead silence

It’s never this quiet in my house

 

I don’t like silence

It’s deafening

It makes you sit there on the couch

With the TV turned off

As you stare at nothing in particular

It presses down around you

And envelops you like a fog

 

Silence makes you think

Maybe about nothing

Maybe about everything

Maybe it only makes you think about one thing

One person

One situation that you don’t ever really think about

Because there’s always too much noise

Too much going on around you

 

And maybe that’s a good thing

That you never really have the time

To think about it

Because maybe

You don’t want to think about it

Maybe you want

To get as far away as possible from it

 

Because maybe

When you do start thinking about it

You come up with possibilities

That you don’t like

Scenarios that can easily become

Quite real

 

And then you can’t stop thinking about it

Because you’re surrounded

By silence

You’re surrounded by time

Time that isn’t rushing you

The kind of time

That allows you to take your time

That slows down

When you don’t want it to

 

The phone rings

Footsteps approach

A door closes

 The sink is turned on

And the water is running

Microwave beeps

Kitchen sounds

People talk to you

Ask you if they can turn the TV on

TV turns on

 

You say yes

Because it doesn’t matter

It doesn’t matter

Because it’s just one more noise

 

The only noise

That can accompany silence comfortably

Is soft music in the background

 

And just like that

Your silence is shattered

The silence that you didn’t want before

That gave you too much room to think

Gone in a shatter

In a snap

 

And only after all of this happens

Do you realize

That you liked your silence

You cherished it

You have mixed feelings for it

But you love it nonetheless

And now it’s gone

 

So maybe next time silence comes around

You’ll smile at it

And you’ll appreciate it more

Maybe

Just maybe