The long Silence
I stood in the long silence
With almost Kafkaesque anticipation
A long suffocating silence
Shrouded in a blanket of quiet and guilt
Where time moves so very slowly
It was a moment spread over a series of moments
Interjected in the distance by shouts and screams
Men women children crying out
Words climbing over one another
One above the rest
For god’s sake help
I asked myself why for god’s sake
Without reaching any conclusion
But in it crept
In yawning gaps between the silence
A silence which was neither black or white
Just a strange kind of grey
Just me and a light bulb swinging free
Being switched off and on in the darkness
Off and on without any rhythm or pattern
Just a light on the end of a twisted strangled cord
Back and forth back and forth
A raw naked bulb both harsh and soft
No noise between the screams
Just a hypnotic back and forth
Until I became dizzy and closed my eyes to get steady
But it was the same old words over and over
What to do what to do
The words puncture the bubble loud in my ear
Well, what’s your answer?
The answer hits me like a sledgehammer
A cold wet flannel
Breaking through the sweat and forty-eight-hour tiredness
My thoughts swimming back up to the surface
And with a heavy gasping breath
Take that one to theatre
That one needs an X-ray
The boy with half an arm needs blood and a smiling face
And more…
And I was back in the room among the bleeding and the dying
Desperate for sleeping but telling myself sleeping
Eating fear anger and weeping can all wait
There was a queue for which none would take precedent
But not now
They would all have to wait until after
After the
Long
Tall
Silence
Stephen Gospage
Wed 15th Jun 2022 09:20
A great poem, Martin. Vibrant and readable.