Whispered in the Sound of Silence

Whispered in the Sound of Silence~ Paul Simon

Living through the pandemic
has left many of us surrounded
by the sounds of silence
for large blocks of time.
Of course noise of the world
is imported into the void
where we can talk back but seldom be heard.
Are we satisfied with the experience?
I think not for you. I know not for me!
Too often we think the only purposes in life
that count are the ones that impact
a multitude of people. How wrong we are.*
Are you content to isolate, to occasionally
meet in a Zoom call, but to spend most time
alone with few others?
But life goes on, Pain hurts.
Grief hurts. Sadness hurts.
None of them feel good.
We’re not condemned to isolation, though.
We may not be near others
but need not detach from people in our lives.
Detaching from the chaos around us
by seeking the silence within
creates healing in us
and in others, too.
Let us reach out to those hurting
and do what we can
to make the sound of silence
not equate to loneliness
but to be the reverberations
of love, of caring, of support,
of underpinning, of buttressing.

*Karen Casey