Disturbed
If silence was peace,
it would not reside
in the space
between heartbeats,
the thousand deaths
each day
must suffer.
It would not pull
the tears
from the canyons
within my soul,
and swallow the scream
that I send,
into the sky,
because pain
burns deeper
when borne alone.
It would not hide
behind words, smiles
and empty glances,
making life echo
as a hollow,
filled with nothing
but ghosts.
© Simon J Ashcroft, 2026
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Excellent. I like this quite a lot.
Silence is actually a pretty complex space, but you've carved out a good chunk of it that is very lucid and poignant.
It reminds me a little of how I am aspiring, if I can get the clutter out of the way, to arrange art in my house. Sometimes art wants to be separated by space, so you can consider each piece individually. The space, then becomes a way of drawing attention to what is not the space. Not by design, but in this case more like out of happenstance, some things just have natural gaps around them that act as natural dramatic magnifiers.
The relation is only superficial, and not competing with anything you've done here because the situations are so different, but for another take on the complex nature of silence, I refer you to this one from A Man for All Seasons: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060665/quotes/?item=qt0429613 Really that entire play is a study in the function and meaning of chosen or purposeful silence. Whereas here, by contrast, you're speaking of silences that are in many cases arguably natural or at least involuntary, sometimes painfully so.
Sorry, It has been a busy couple of days. I wanted to think about this, and it sort of got lost – hence, the "silence".
Silence as space is a necessity. Not only for your art – but, e.g: it makes these words and letters visually intelligible, as with the spoken word.
But that is different to my point, where silence can even hide in noise (meaningless chatter) or be revealed by it (listen to the wind). It can be what is unsaid, despite all that is.
The hidden, unsaid, wounds...
Ran out of characters.
Another sort of silence, I suppose.
Anyhow, thanks for the link. I'll look at it over the weekend, at greater leisure.
If you have not seen the play or movie, do. It is an extraordinary piece of writing. Very Shakespearean in its style and form.
It feels timeless in that way, but in fact it arose during the McCarthy Era, a dark time of American politics when government had gotten out of control and very invasive. It is today newly relevant. I worked on this play in high school and the morality that it illustrates was very formative/instructive for who I would become. And it is HIGHLY quotable. Tons of really good dialog.
The stage play is done on a barren stage with very little ornament distracting from the dialog. The movie is very lavish and takes advantage of the visual spectacle that is that medium. Both, interestingly, were written by Robert Bolt. The order of some of the scenes is rearranged, but ultimately almost identical dialog. That itself is fascinating and speaks to the choices that different media make, sometimes less consciously or adept than this makes. But it is brilliant work and the movie has much award-winning work.
No, I have not seen it, but will keep an eye out for it, thanks.
I think I saw that in there but poorly teased it out and articulated it, so I appreciate you clarifying. The nice thing about the original piece is that it touches on stuff like that even without having to name it.
Oh, you did pretty well at teasing it, I thought. And thanks for the compliment.
Simon Ashcroft
Kent Pitman