Deafening Silence

A city freezeframe…

To peer out the window,

To listen and hear only silence

Is to miss the sirens,

The cars,

The cabby horns,

The delivery trucks,

The dog barks,

The neighborhood drunks,

The night-soul of Manhattan.

Night folds into day laying quiet

The normal updrafts from traffic

Caressing tree leaves and jostling balcony wind chimes.

No bike rings by delivery boys,

No stick cracks by children playing street hockey,

No ball-dribbling in street lot courts.

Another night.

Another day.

Such deafening silence for New Yorkers

Patiently waiting for the return of Manhattan’s cacophony.