Deafening

dougmarrslocalleads.com

Silence is not silence;
silence is a sound.
It is the not ringing
of your telephone.
It shouts out loudly
that friends, family,
even wrong numbers
are dead, disinterested,
or just plain too busy.
It is the sound of
organizations not
bothering to call back.
It is the sound that says
you are Ozymandias
alone in the desert
surveying the ruins
of what was, but isn’t.
It is Keats’s Nightingale
with terminal laryngitis.
It is a rattle of death.
For days and nights
it is the only sound
you ever hear.
It is the sound
you can’t stop
ringing in your ear.