The Sounds of Silence
“Hello darkness, my old friend,
“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 share
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 signs said, the words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls.
And whispered in the sounds of silence.”
Do you recognize the lyrics of this song?
Watch the video clips below to see how it is sung:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=debgoWX1tLU&feature=related
This song was written in February 1964 by Paul Simon in the aftermath of the assassination of the U.S. President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Simon conceived the song as a way of capturing the emotional trauma felt by many Americans.
Basically, this song tells the truth about how people are slowly losing their ability at communicating to one another and they are becoming isolated and silence is slowly “growing like a cancer".
On another front, the writer of the article, Listen Carefully to Sounds of Silence by Narayani Ganesh, looks at the 'Sounds of Silence' from a different perspective. He quoted one typical example as follow:
“US president George Bush, in his much publicized address to a joint session of Congress, declared, “Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make - either you’re with us, or you’re with the terrorists”. This leaves no space for a large number of ‘nations’ and individuals who oppose terrorism but want to distance themselves from Washington’s war plans as well.
The significance of silence is often underestimated. Silence does not necessary mean ignorance or even concurrence. It could well mean a desire to distance oneself from the situation in order to get a clearer view of the larger picture. Silence provides a chance to reflect and understand, so that greater comprehension and a wider, liberating perspective can help douse the flames of anger and revenge rather than fan and spread them, leading to more violence and unhappiness.”
So, one should not blame those countries which preferred not to take sides but to remain silence as silence speaks volumes.
“Silence is certainly useful as a valuable tool that can help sharpen the mind; to help us reflect in solitude and take stock. Christian scriptures often describe silence as ‘an aid to the practice of good’ since an unguarded tongue dissipates the soul, distracting the mind from concentration and comprehension – or to put it in spiritual terminology, from prayer and meditation.”
It is always a privilege for a person to remain in solitude in a room for certain hours of a day, to read and to reflect, to meditate or to take a nap without being disturbed by the outside world. It is certainly a joy to do so as ‘Silence is Golden’!
Silence Poem
What you can do:
You can criticise silence,
You can ignore silence.
What you cannot do:
You cannot sit even one fleeting minute
In silence.
Yet one day
It is you and you alone
Who will marry silence
And become inseparably one
With silence-sky.
Excerpt from
