The Colour of Silence

I took the title of my blog from that of one of my poems. One day I overheard that haunting old Simon & Garfunkel number 'The Sound of Silence', and it set me thinking; if silence could have a 'sound', then perhaps it could have a 'colour'? The idea rumbled on in that strange back-room of the brain where we would-be poets are apt to store all kinds of lumber - fragments of lines, good rhymes and phrases, half-formed plans for future work. I gradually came to 'see' the poem as a conversation between two people, one of whom was rather feverishly re-telling a strange story to the other. I can often work out some of the origins of my poems, where the influences came from, but I've no idea about this one - apart from my deliberate punning quotation from W Shakespeare and TS Eliot in a couple of lines. Enough rambling on - here's the poem:

Have I told you about the day I met her?

Not for a long time,
but I’m sure you’re going to tell me again.
You must be feeling better!

It was a day in late October
when the skies were full of rain,
and I hurried over the moor
looking for shelter.

Late October? Are you sure?
The last time you told it,
it was mid-September.

You never pay attention - and don’t interrupt.
That girl, and those eyes! Do you think
I wouldn’t remember?

I remember ‘Those are pearls that were his thighs
And nothing doth remain ...’

... I sometimes think you’ll drive me insane.
... I heard a sweet sound
drifting, drifting on the breeze ...

... and then you saw, below you
in a belt of trees ...

... a small hut, with such a curious door.
As I drew near, I could see that it was
woven like a wattle fence.

Here, let me prop you up a little -
I don’t like that rattle in your throat.

They had left the door ajar
and inside, someone was lazily playing
a twelve-string guitar, slowly fingering,
lingering over each note.

You shouldn’t keep tormenting yourself.
Stop this, it doesn’t make any sense!

I pushed open the door,
and saw her sitting there,
with the dead child on the floor;

That girl with the pale, pale face
that girl with the blueberry hair,
and eyes the colour of silence.

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(header image: Lake Shallows ~ Chuzenji-ko ~ Japan)