A Study in Silence

"Music is the silence between the notes." ~ Claude Debussy

Silence can be a verb or a noun.

Silence is a muteness, an absence of sound, a stillness, something or someone fading to oblivion—and secrecy. It’s that person missing from your life or that topic you don’t talk about.

There are songs about silence: Elliot Smith's "Better Be Quiet Now" or "Our Lips Are Sealed" by The Go Go’s. These are about keeping quiet, keeping things to ourselves and forgetting.

I do not necessarily believe silence has to be about secrecy. It’s about slowing down, quieting our minds to the chaos of our daily lives.

In silence, we experience things and we learn. Sometimes it is most unexpected.

It is in those times of silence that those memories hit. Sometimes they are both bitter and sweet. Sometimes they are happy and sometimes they bring on a longing for the people and places of our past.

Sometimes, we just need to sit and let our minds go where they need to go.

Sometimes, we just need to experience those memories.

Silent Chair

In the silent

solitude

of dawn

the empty chair calls.

With a whispered

exhalation

I sit

I think of you.

Until next time, make room for the silence . . .

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About the Author

Minnesota-based author, Joie Lesin is a life-long fiction writer and the author of The Passenger. She has long been fascinated by anything otherworldly including ghosts. She loves to write a good ghost story—especially when it includes a touch of romance.