Silent Echoes

Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to their graves with the song still in them. - Thoreau

artwork by SamZee

the lonelier i am

the louder the voice in my head

it's my voice, my head, my loneliness but still it seems distant albeit familiar

there's something weird about it

it's talking but not saying anything

maybe it's just trying to fill the emptiness

maybe it's screaming whispered secrets

maybe i'm just heedless

maybe it wants to give me a  hug

maybe it wants to liquor me up or slip me some new, miracle drug

so it can take advantage of me

getting me hopped up and throwing away the key

maybe it's speaking in tongues

maybe it's crouched down, searching for its hair

maybe it's a ladder to somewhere

despite the missing rungs

maybe it just doesn't have the balls to speak up

maybe it's drowned out by the sound of an empty, rattling, tin cup

maybe it's just waiting for the right buildup

maybe it's all mixed up

maybe it needs help

or perhaps it's just waiting for my long overdue, library book, late fees to be paid up

despite the mumbling, as i stand at the worn down counter, i've no choice but to say, "yup"

Author's Note

"As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness." - Thoreau