How can silence be so loud?
Echoing with words unspoken.
The thoughts it brings tend to crowd,
Evoking feeling that’s just awoken.

Is it what you say, or what you don’t,
That stays with you so long?
The birds that chirp, or those who won’t,
That have the most beautiful song?

Could the syllables you swallow
Be the ones that matter most?
A shout, or the silence that will follow,
That creates the largest ghost?

Clinging to pursed pink lips,
The things you should have said.
They grip like claws with razor tips
And they never leave your head.

That is the sound of silence;
The sound of things not there.
It rattles bones with violence
And consumes you without care.

The silence is consuming
Until you open up.
The verse you hold is blooming,
All you can do is speak up.