Silence speaks loudly of Silence:²
Much silence contains mighty Noise—³
Universal Hum—allied to silence.⁴
The silent word is more palpable than
Wood, wall, flesh—invisible proof of Eden.⁵
Silence is not only the Source of sound but its Subject—
And since the speaker’s acquaintance with it is
Through themselves—it is the Speaker also.⁶
A silentness answers thee enow—that,
As a brazen sound excludes all others,
Doth ensheathe us round—Hear it!⁷
Silence becomes the Subject
The Speaker set out to Be.⁸
Nothing is worth saying, nothing worth doing,
But as a foil for the Waves of Silence to break against.⁹
You know you’ve found someone really Special
When you can just shut the fuck up for a minute
And Comfortably share a Silence.¹⁰
¹ Louise Bogan, Song for the Last Act
² Jane Hirschfield, On the Fifth Day
³ Swahili proverb
⁴ Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Artist of the Beautiful
⁵ Jan Polkowski tr. March & Anders, The World Is Only Air
⁶ William Bronk, Silence and Henry Thoreau
⁷ Elizabeth Barrett Browning, The Seraphim
⁸ Ed Skoog, Guard? Guard!
⁹ William Bronk, Silence and Henry Thoreau
¹⁰ Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Fiction