Only Silence Speaks the Language of Birds

Cherry

By Silver Spun Sand

Fri, 28 Nov 2014
  • 2754 reads
10 comments
 
Words were curtains, smoke-screens;
no one actually dying – least of all
my two granddads who, seemingly,
simply disappeared into oblivion, 
haunting my childhood dreams.
 
Puberty, too – a dirty word; taboo.
Bodily functions; not a subject, up
for discussion; babies were discovered
under bushes, and sometimes, a stork
delivered one, wrapped in a sheet
hanging from its beak.
 
Sex never existed, only canoodling – 
‘a bit of how’s your father’, so I took 
what I could from where I could.  Read
‘Lady Chatterley’ from cover to cover;
the copy my dad hid on the top shelf
of the larder.  
 
There was always Uncle Stan, of course...
him and his wife didn’t have no kids, so 
they’d ask me to stay.  He’d take me
places...on his own; Richmond Park,
usually.
 
We’d talk about nature, poetry...and music,
common interests him and me shared, but
we didn’t talk much – not that one afternoon...
him – shoving his tongue down my throat.
 
Obsessions followed; anorexic they said I was,
but I wasn’t; just terrified I’d show.  Read up
on it in the library – launched myself
into the hockey and netball teams...
 
climbed hills, jumped off of walls,
clutching at straws I could undo
what he’d done.
 
How I longed – yearned to tell someone,
but, not what you did ... not then... 
so I confided in my diary, except for bits
I was too embarrassed to say...
 
instead, I left spaces.  Anyway, the silence
is what I remember most, and the sight
of wild geese, going home.  For that 
kind of silence, there are
no words.
Certificate 15
Poem
Silver Spun Sand Poems
Biography
Nature

Comments

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Tragic, but very perceptively written of the inmost thoughts, when no one in whom to confide.
Rhiannon
(I've been away with a very poor internet connection for a week or so!)

 

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

Gosh, Rhiannon, I have missed you, and have been a bit concerned.   I'm  so glad, therefore,  to hear it's just your computer that's a bit under the weather, and not yourself.  It's always a treat to hear from yousmiley

Hope your computer behaves itself from now on, but they do seem to have minds of their own.

Have a peaceful weekend.

Tina

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Thanks, Tina, though, actually it wasn't my computer but the internet connection where we were staying, - rather frustrating! Hope you have a peaceful weekend too. Rh

 

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

Oh, I see, Rhiannonsmiley Many thanks for getting back to me.  I wish you a safe journey home.

Tina

 

Submitted by Ray Schaufeld on

Chilling mix of Nature and human nature gone wrong. The isolation and reflective anger of the person in the poem are well drawn. Like the end 'there are no words', the fact that you are writing it in words!

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

Absolutely, elsie.  Absolutely.

Tina

 

Submitted by catherine poarch on

Brilliant. It starts in one place and then goes somewhere I didn't expect and ends up with this terrible loneliness of the wild geese flying, but in that those last few words there's some feeling of stillness.

 

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

Thank you catherine.  You do have a wonderful way with words.  Glad you enjoyed minesmiley

Tina

 

Submitted by Bee on

Most of all, I really felt the loneliness in this. No one to confide in, and having been 'groomed' using apparent common interests, the feeling of the greatest betrayal and desertion. There's so much more to the story than is written. Very clever and atmospheric writing, conjuring vivid pictures in the mind. The desperation - jumping off walls, etc. And knowing who will get blamed? The geese leaving adds, not only to the atmosphere, it seals the memory and for me rubs salt in the wound, that they are able to go on as normal when nothing will ever be that again for her.

Bee

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

Bee  - you picked up on the many aspects of this poem, and for that I am so grateful.  Really appreciate it.  Thank you, so much.

Tina