Silences

Gold cherry

By D G Moody

Thu, 05 Feb 2026
  • 273 reads
13 comments
 

There are certain kinds of silence.
Some come as the pregnant pauses,
that are in the space between sounds,
others are just by themselves found.

There is the silence before the first breath
as new-born lungs are seeking the first air
before calling aloud that they are here.

There is the silence after the first hurt,
the first slap or the first angry word,
when the child will retreat into silence
that will calcify into a hardened shell.

There is the silence between the vows,
When one or the other can still decline
as though by now they had that in mind.

Then there is the silence of complicity,
when a word could still have been said,
instead of which from greed or stupidity
they now find themselves in duplicity.

The silence of the words not spoken
between two who lived together as one
When the hurt and pride became a divide

There is the silence of loving familiarity,
when together nothing need be said,
and the thoughts are shared instead.

Finally, the pause before a last breath
taken when the self can’t see to see;
when life can no longer go on and on,
and all the silences are rolled into one.
 

D G Moody 2026

Certificate U
Poem
Inspiration Point. IP
Inspiration Point (work that responds to our weekly writing cue)

Comments

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

A lot to think about there, of wise silences, and wrong silences. Oh, how we need a Lord of the tongue, but also of the heart that sets it off!

One thought also was on the hurt child of v.3. I've been reading a book by a friend who has one daughter with a particular kind of autism. And I find echoes with all that she has learned of wisdom and understanding and progress, of my own struggles and failures with all my children, but especially with the one who had Asperghers. Unsurprisingly, he has an excellen memories, and after becoming an adult, he shared memoreis of some of our struggles, and his empathy with me even when I misfudged him, or failed to understand, or got it wrong in the heat of the difficultiy. And he remembered withholding useful information from me!

 How hard it can be to apologise with a child, and share together afterwards in analysis of a dispute!

Rhiannon

 

Submitted by D G Moody on

Thank you Rhiannonw for your considerate comments on the poem. And yes, childhood isn't always a happy period - it certainly wasn't in my case; then one just had to endure. I also hope I inserted a more hopeful theme in the penultimate stanza, using my wife and myself as an example,

Blessings......Dougie

Dougie Moody

Submitted by Di_Hard on

Thank You for this wonderful IP response :0)

 

Submitted by D G Moody on

Thanks Di. I keep thinking there is already a poem that uses the same theme, but I couldn't finfd it, and I shamelessly stole - 'can't see to see'  from Emily Dickinson. 

Blessings......Dougie

Dougie Moody

Submitted by celticman on

I think you've caught the silence bug. Hopefully, I'll catch it soon. 

 

Submitted by D G Moody on

Thanks Jack; It's an interesting idea, total silence, which I understand is very hard to realise and if so doing can be very unerving. The closest I came to it was in a forest in Thailand.

Blessings......Dougie

Dougie Moody

Submitted by D G Moody on

Just to say thank you to the editors for the cherries, always much appreciated.

Dougie Moody

Submitted by marandina on

"..when life can no longer go on and on,
and all the silences are rolled into one"

From the cradle to the grave. So many silences in such a noisy world.

Beautifully done, Dougie. .
 

 

Submitted by D G Moody on

Thanks Paul; I'm glad you picked those last lines - it sums up what the poem is about. 

Best....Dougie

Dougie Moody

Submitted by Tom Brown on

There is a silence of Love also!

“Silence is the perfectest herald of joy: I were but little happy, if I could say how much.
Lady, as you are mine, I am yours: I give away myself for you and dote upon the exchange.”

 – William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing

 

Submitted by D G Moody on

Yes, the silence of love, which I tried to address. It is definitely a 'vegetable love' that grows with tender care.

Cheers Tom........Dougie

Dougie Moody

Submitted by insertponceyfre... on

This is our social media Pick of the Day!

Please share if you enjoyed it too

 

Submitted by D G Moody on

Thanks Claudine, this is icing on the cake!

Dougie Moody