you’d think that silence would be peaceful. but really, it’s painful.

We switch to another language-- not our invented language or the language we've learned from our lives. As we walk further up the mountain, we speak the language of silence. This language gives us time to think and move. We can be here and elsewhere at the same time.

The question is there in each silence. The question is there in the space between you. But you cannot bring it aloud.

What strange creatures we are, to find silence peaceful, when permanent silence is the thing we most dread

The world is quieter now. It is never quiet, but it can get quieter. What strange creatures we are, to find silence peaceful, when permanent silence is the thing we most dread. Nighttime is not that. Nighttime still rustles, still creaks and whispers and trembles in its throat. It is not darkness we fear, but our own helplessness within it. How merciful to have been granted the other senses.

They don’t have silences together; they have noise. Mostly his.