Soundly
So many sounds
Are just illusions
We’re good at delusions
Ascribing this to that
Cautious as diplomats
Naming things not what they are but
Something else instead
I thought I heard the wind one day
It wasn’t the wind at all
It was just the trees protesting
Clinging tight before the fall
What’s the sound of a heart being broken
Is it a cry in the night or a sob in the dark
A slam of a door, or a catch in your throat
What’s the sound of passion
Rub of skin on skin
Shh, shh, someone might hear
Intake of breath in your ear
So near
Impatience sounds like fingers drumming on a tabletop
Torture begins with nails on a chalkboard
Ends with a choked wail
Happiness is children splashing in a swimming hole
Shrieking in delight
Mystery shrouds a foghorn’s moan
Or a train’s long whistle in the night
Applause means appreciation
Where did that begin
Who thought that slapping palms together
Should declare approbation
And why, when we’re asleep and dead to the world
Virtually deaf
Why do we say we sleep soundly
Even as our snores resound around the room
David Trudel © 2012
David, this is brilliant. I especially like skin on skin and impatience sounding like drumming fingers.