A Silence Like None Other
By John Herlihy

I
It was a silence like none other,
A unique and fearful silence
That would never again hear sound,
A lonesome, solitary silence
That woke up in the morning,
And simply looked ominously around
Not a word, chirp, or breath of wind storming
Pure silence reigned, nothing moved.
The cat sat in rapture’ she no longer purred,
Not a branch moved, nothing stirred.

II
What of it, one might another ask.
Isn’t silence better than a blast?
Don’t we cry out for the stillness of silence
When noise assaults our ears furious and fast?
We escape into silence as a reasonable ploy,
In order to take comfort in the silence of joy,
That raises our withers and prickles our skin;
Silence softens the heart and lessens chagrin.
From birds to bees, everyone has their say.
Isn’t it better to keep random noise at bay?

III
“True,” another might say along the way,
“But this is a silence like none other,
A silence that will never again hear sound.”
Even in heaven angels sing and harps play
But no chance of sound is pure bother.
Imagine a world without a single sound,
The wind has no more whispers to give,
Trees sway back and forth, but only frown.
Birds fly through the air on silent wings,
The tall grass waves, but no longer sings.

IV
Silence always carries with it the expectation of sound;
We admire silence so long as sound is somewhere around.
The cry of the peacock, the woodpecker knocking on bark,
Life would not be the same without the song of the lark.
Silence keeps us guessing with a stillness most profound;
But sound thrills the sense of hearing with music all around.
Silence speaks a language of inner peace and lasting harmony;
Sound produces vibrations and rhythms of melodic psalmody.
The thrill of an exotic silence lies on the near side of never;
The chill of absolute silence lies on the other side of forever.

V
The clouds move carelessly across a patch of blue,
Mingling with soaring eagles numbering but few,
Without knowing why, no sound questions the sky.
The sun rises and sets, no trumpets to comply,
Mother Nature now suddenly to the world gone mute,
Head bowed with every appearance of being astute.
Now everything is as silent as falling snow,
Drifting to the ground with stillness and peace in tow.
No howling of wolves, not hooting of night owls,
Not even the bear waking from hibernation with growls.

VI
The silence multiplies; it can just grow and grow,
Grow more than anyone or anything can know.
A silence so lasting we now suddenly wish for sound,
A silence so absolute it is fearful beyond anything profound.
The day has finally arrived when we wish to hear a voice,
Sacred rhythms filling our hearts with the spirit of rejoice.
The clap of a hand, the brush of a kiss, the tinkle of toys,
Sound so moving it just fills a person with simple joys.
What happened but silence chased all sound away,
Only silence remains, like none other, here forever to stay.