to silence.

We leave space for grief, between sips of wine;

Emptiness we would have filled before

Filled to the brim to pass the passing time

Is emptier now, but replaced by something more

Than words; a new language that we share:

A syntax of punctuated silence,

A dialogue of grief laid newly bare:

While old words, left shouting in defiance,

Fight to be heard above the roaring din

Of space and silence. We pepper speech

With pauses: gaps that welcome sadness in

to dark, unspoken corners, reach-

ing where the old words only fail us:

For old words speak of old lives: now it’s silence that saves us.