28 November 2018

tinge

silence reigns oppressively when you are gone.
and yet, to silence this cannot compare.
i don't know silence--not at all--
my ears ring always with the sibilance that's 
          hanging in the air:

the sound of what i feel, and what i 
          know, and feel i know;
the sound of cicadas humming on a summer night
a muggy, sleepless sort of summer night
a cloudy summer night
devoid of stars