Hello, darkness, my old friend
I’ve got 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 whispered in the sound of silence