sounds of silence

Today is Day of Silence and we're observing in both in support of the GLSEN community, but also in a broader sense of anyone who feels silenced for any reason--fear, poverty, gender, politics.  (I've been part of another campus that did this exercise and it is always interesting to see how to teach/learn without talking....stay tuned for the results.)

 And as we are covering lyrics-as-poetry in class as well, the following Simon/Garfunkel lyrics are ideal.  This also is an interesting exercise--it is surprising how many times lyrics do not hold up as sheer poetry--they are so inexplicably tied to the music.

 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 sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls"
And whispered in the sounds of silence

and that you're humming along, my task here is done....