Silence

Noises echo:

Screeching, ringing, endless shouting,

Voices raised and pulsing.

Slurping, chomping,

Other countries know you're eating.

Bang, bang, bang,

Cups, utensils,

You're a toddler playing

Uncontrollably.

Stomping, slamming,

Now a toddler blatantly

Tantrum-throwing,

Because your temper's uncontrollable.

You need all to know you're mad.

Volume raising double,

Speakers wailing,

Your hearing's in trouble

When someone next to you is speaking,

But the television blares quadruple,

Leaving its echoes and vibrations

Throbbing through the house for hours.

Finally, silence comes, and yet I can't relax,

For the chomp-slurp-slam-bang-screech

Are such simple facts

Of this existence that they never go away.

You scream and throw and smash and lip-smack

Like some kind of brainless monkey,

And I'm the one who's wrong today?

Silence ought to bring relief,

But it reminds me more of constant noises, only.