He said one day you will be totally deaf

and before I left said Thank you to the Doctor

even though his gift was a sentence

to be carried out at some unspecified date.

While I was able I had to go to Montreux

to hear at least Miles Davis, Gary Burton,

BB King, Charles Mingus, Ornette Coleman,

Keith Jarrett, Sun Ra and Horace Silver.

And I had to hear everything in the world -

kids in the playground, raindrops tap-dancing

on a tin roof, the wind blowing through trees,

leaves as they hit the ground, a crackling fire,

waves crashing on a beach, buses changing

gear, poetry (but I didn't know it back then),

opening a can of soup, breath (mine especially),

kittens chattering, bursting bubble wrap, thunder,

Tony Blackburn on the radio (it's OK,

I'm kidding), the song of blackbirds, the song

that comes from my lips, conversation that soars,

climbs, dives, races and sometimes just hovers

and, lastly, those simple words “I love you”,

richer than an abacus, alphabets or angels.

I'll miss everything that's grown familiar

and be locked in a anechoic chamber

where no sounds can arrive or escape.