The Sound of Silence

• 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.
  

- Paul Simon -"Wednesday Morning 3A.M.", 1964