Silence is Golden

By Silver Spun Sand

Sat, 28 Feb 2015
  • 539 reads
2 comments
 
Picks her way through the debris; an overdue facelift –
courtesy of the council.  Paint cans, dusty dustsheets. 
How was she supposed to cook in mayhem like this?
Gives it up as a bad job; she’ll grab a takeaway...later.
Kneels; strokes the cat, black with pure white feet,
unties her apron strings. Cocks a snoot at the moon 
through a window; how she wishes she was there,
today, at least. The pits it’d been since the start...
overslept; alarm clock on the blink, so she thought.  
 
Until, a ringing in her ears, and then nothing...not a peep,
not a thing, literally. ‘Sudden Deafness Syndrome’
the medics called it. It might pass in a day or so; if not
they’d run tests.  Like hell they would. Avoided hospitals
like the plague since her dad died in one...fingers an LP – 
the latest by the Stones.  She’d give anything to hear it 
right now.  Lights a cigarette, instead. One good thing, 
oblivious, she’d be, to those workmen...“Milk, two sugars, 
love...please!” unwinding, still, from her ears.
 
Stubs out her fag – takes the air in her yard, and cat
comes, too.  Loved his tummy scratched – next minute
he’d scarpered; an assignation, she guesses, with the love 
of his life from Number 25.  Takes in the scintillating view;
factory stacks spewing steam, and a pylon, reached a sky
picketed with stars, and the ring-road, a stone’s throw away 
headlamps streak by like fireflies. Life in the fast lane, 
acted out in perfect silence – like watching a film on TV – 
the sound turned down.  
 
Cat slopes back in – she gives him his tea...not hearing,
moments before, a screech of brakes, the crunch of metal 
on metal, or sirens, nor the police at Number 25’s.
Looks at her – 'eyes could charm the birds right out 
the trees', and perhaps they did; white feet tinged
with red. Yet, she didn't see, and tonight, at least,
silence is golden.
Certificate 12
Poem
Silver Spun Sand Poems
Inspiration Point (work that responds to our weekly writing cue)

Comments

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

It really gives the feel of that sudden cessation of the noise you're used to and looking at life all around as if the sound is turned off on the television. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

Thanks for reading, Rhiannon, and I'm glad I managed to convey the mood of this one to you.

Hope you are enjoying a peaceful Sunday.

Tina