Write the Silence

Write the Silence

It was a slow weekday down at Bell's Tavern

Pretty Sally and I were the only ones around

She tends bar half way through the week

Serving tall drinks, smiles and good conversation

We talked a bit about her new apartment,

We talked about her family and her friends,

We talked a bit about the weather,

Then we talked a bit about all the souls

You can happen meet in a bar now and then

She said, “John, you know, I really hate having

A hospital two blocks up the street

Sometimes I just don't know what to say

People come in having terrible times

I feel so sorry for them

Sick themselves with chemo and cancer

Or loosing people who are close to them

I said, “I'm a writer and I paint the world

With words and a pen, so I think about what people

Might say to each other all the time

You know, sometimes there's really nothing you can say

There's times when words just utterly fail

And there's also feelings

That don't have any words to go with them

Then we were quiet for a little while

And Sally walked off to make busy

By folding a few bar towels

When she came back I said, “I used to think

The hardest part of my kind of work

Was how to say things so well

That it moved people to tears

But now I know the hardest part for a writer

Is how to write the silence”

Just then someone walked through the door

Sally glanced at him quickly and gave me

A quiet hint of smile

Then she put on a broader smile

And went off to greet her new customer

Dewey Dirks