Hello darkness, my old friend,
I've come to talk with you again,
Because a vision softly creeping,
Left its seeds
while I was sleeping,
And the vision
that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence.
In restless dreams
I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone,
'Neath the halo of a street lamp,
I turned my collar
to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed
by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence.
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more.
People talking without speaking,
People hearing without listening,
People writing songs
that voices never share
And no one dare
Disturb the sound of silence.
"Fools" said I,
"You do not know silence
like a cancer grows.
Hear my words
that I might teach you,
Take my arms
that I might reach you."
But my words like silent raindrops
fell and echoed
In the wells of silence
And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made.
And the sign flashed out its warning,
In the words that it was forming.
And the sign said,
"The words of the prophets
are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls."
And whisper'd
in the sounds of silence.