1999 Intermission of my young days

If, within the silence, you begin the play once more, If, even with a fine performance, you can no longer catch the essential lines, If, driven by life's anxieties, no matter what you do, an unwanted play is staged within your mind, If, to shield yourself from it, you try to guard with noise, increasing your friends as a form of defense, Even if the theater fears the days it must close, if you understand that no good performance can grace a theater lacking true silence, Then, even if the show pauses, and deep silence fails to return within your body—