[Holy Monday]

[hermionesviolin]

The Sound of Silence
-Paul Simon (of Simon & Garfunkel)

Hello darkness, my old friend,
I've come to talk with you again,
Because a vision softly creeping,
Left its seeds while I was sleeping,
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence.

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone,
'Neath the halo of a street lamp,
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence.

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more.
People talking without speaking,
People hearing without listening,
People writing songs that voices never shared
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence.

"Fools" said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows.
Hear my words that I might teach you,
Take my arms that I might reach you."
But my words like silent raindrops fell,
And echoed
In the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made.
And the sign flashed out its warning,
In the words that it was forming.
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets
are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls."
And whispered in the sounds of silence.

---

Of course, the opening line grabbed me for Holy Week.  The whole "no one dared disturb the sound of silence" verse resonated as well, however -- ideas of Jesus' ministry and also reaching back to the "walked alone" thinking about Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.  The apocalyptic prophetic bit not so much, but the issues of silence . . . . and obviously, again, the darkness -- which I feel permeates the whole song -- really resonates for the week.