Loud As a Whisper

Shouting, noise beyond compare, unending, incoming cacophony People everywhere, running, weaving, dodging, evading But can’t avoid the crescendo, the orchestra percussion gone mad Ever climbing until it is a deafening roar, eardrums in pain Illusion is days, reality is minutes, did time cease, somebody speaks to me I cannot hear them but guess the words, I must learn to lipread Then, as quickly as the start, it is gone, a surreal silence, a ringing in my head Like walking from a loud night club into the still dawn times a hundred And as normal returns, I turn to talk to one, shakes his head, hands over his ears Deafened by the first close shell fall, we don’t hear much He is shouting, all I hear is a whisper July 2005