In the Stillness of the Night
Silence, once a friend,
nay, once a lover
with arms embracing me
in warmth and fingers
stroking, gently
lulling, me to sleep,
has left my side, displaced
by incessant ringing,
a drone so maddening
as to be tiresome,
without the benefit
of a sleep that will not
bed with cacophony.
And so I make do
with white noise. True,
no lover, but a friend
to shield me, that sleep
might also be my friend.
I do miss silence.
This is in response to Sounds of Silence at dVerse, where the challenge for Poetics from Dwight Roth is to write a poem about the human condition that alludes to silence.
rivrvlogr 
Cacophony seems to be the companion of aging. I share your misery . . .
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Commiserations.
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Would it be comforting if I knew it’s the voices of all the people inflicted by it. Probably not.
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No, there isn’t anything that would make it acceptable. I hesitate now to ask my husband to listen to that bird. It’s too sad when he can’t pick out the song amid all the other twittering.
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I stopped asking if tunes I was hearing were covers of the original, when I realized each time it sounded flat or different was because I don’t hear all the notes anymore.
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It’s one of those invisible handicaps, not even a handicap, just a loss. If you ever complained people would say, you should be grateful not to be blind, or something equally unhelpful;
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Yes.
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🙂
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I’d say it’s nice to know I’m not alone, but no one should suffer from it.
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It’s a theft of so much pleasure.
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So sorry, Ken.I know you’ve spoken of this before. As Jane said it’s a loss that may not seem devastating– unless you’re the one living with it.
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Thank you, Merril. I could think of plenty of other ways to make life interesting.
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So sorry about this Ken, sending healing thoughts your way 💜
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As much as I like quiet, that’s when it stands out the most. Twenty-eight years now. I run on the same batteries, so, of course, I don’t want those to run down. 😉
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Such a devastating loss… white noise is like a clumsy band-aid I think,
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It is, but quiet times are when it’s most noticeable.
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A great poem, Ken. Ah we do wish for the sound of silence once more, but probably never in our lifetime. That ringing goes on twenty-four hours a day. Like a mixed drink, we add more noise to distract from the onslaught! I know this imposter very well!
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Thank you, Dwight.
Mixed drink. I like that.
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:>)
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I see you have the same problem as I do. Yours sounds worse than mine. It is a constant bedfellow, that’s for sure. 🙂
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Clearing my mind helps me fall asleep – except that too clear means too quiet, so it helps if I can run a dialogue in my head, sometimes.
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I’m usually so tired I go straight to sleep but I wake up in the early morning. That’s when I find tinnitus gets really loud.
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I am also a member of this club. Due to damage from antibiotics. At first I was frantic. Now I generally don’t notice. You described the situation so beautifully here.
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Thanks, Claudia. It may sound odd, but even focusing on an annoying sound like the HVAC (which really isn’t that loud – just another sound) works for a spell. It’s all about distraction.
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I have found that time also heals – not physically, but inside the mind, which grows accustomed and finds ways to get around the new noise which gradually becomes just one of many noises. I did find listening to audio books helped me adjust. Since I had to focus on the story my brain could not hear the buzz (I am now addicted to audio books, though).
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I can understand that noise that is so maddening. Sorry to hear about this and hope you are coping. Sleeping deeply is a blessing.
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Thank you. Some days are louder than others (And this a comment on a poem about silence!), but I’ve managed to adapt.
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This is enlightening for me, it really makes me feel what some of my friends have tried to describe. Hearing is a sense we tend to ignore until it becomes compromised. (K)
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Nice way of describing that sleeplessness: “sleep that will not
bed with cacophony”
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Thank you, Frank.
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Sorry to hear that Ken. It has to be beyond annoying. Sounds like the audio books help somewhat. Love the poem, it really covers it well.
Pat
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Thanks, Pat. It’s definitely more fun writing about than experiencing.
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For sure!
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My hubby has Tinnitus more in one ear and the other – due to a visit to a resort bar that was too loud. He was trying to be sociable – I refuse to attend such places. Or leave them as soon as possible.
Anytime the DJ is wearing headphones…that’s a sign the music at a dinner, wedding or dance is just too loud. Music should be background noise not loud enough to make folks have to shout to the person next to them to be heard. Haven’t gotten a white noise machine yet… might have to look into it though.
– you are not alone.
There are supposed to be some solutions. But they work differently for everyone. Good luck.
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We have an air cleaner running in the bedroom, adding white noise. It’s fairly quiet, and I tend to think it’s not running, but I definitely know when it is not.
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