A Collection of Silences

A Collection of Silences

Our life has become a collection of silences:

        Tense silences:
        So ear-splittingly loud that thoughts flee before them into a sea of red.
        A white knuckled wheel driving somewhere.
        Anywhere to escape the bleakness that follows.
        
        Spatial silences:
        Two bodies whirling away on tethers stretched too thin
        Succumbing to a quiet law mandating
        An equal and opposite reaction
        To the gravity that once crushed them together

        Curious silences:
        Bright thoughts illuminating endless decks, vessels banked
        To port. To starboard.
        Passing within hailing distance...except for the quiet sea between.

        Interrupted silences:
        The ignored text.
        A cover closed too quickly.
        Smiles gone awry upon discovery.

        Closed silences:
        Quietly raised liquid memories to
        When-did-why-the-where-has-how-did-we?
        Marked only by a track down a cheek.

        Sleepless silences:
        Filled with slow familiar rhythms
        Warm shadows that beckon dreams which do not answer
        Eyes staring at the inch wide crevasse
        Between your hand and mine

        Spectacular silences:
        When heat sears away the ice
        Mouths speaking through the wetness of touch
        Piercing plunges, flesh clutched desperately
        Pleas cried into your core by the tongue that so often pleased
        Fisted swallows held close

        Peaceful silences:
        Glances held too long, the quirk of a smile that does leave
        But enjoyed nonetheless
        A cup offered. Taken.
        The aroma of that favored heart attack in a bowl.
        Fingers delving into a place, late at night
        Once they brought a surge, now just warmth.

Our life has become a collection of silences. It can’t be enough. But it has to be.