
Jessica Norman
to silence.
Updated: Mar 11, 2021
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.
