Silence By Niloufar Behrooz

The Rising Phoenix Review

March 31

Silence

It lingers in the air
when the man and
his estranged wife
sit next to each other.

It rests on the city roof
when all the madness has stopped
and the homeless boy
lies awake on a park bench.

It hugs the lonely grandma
who never stops looking
outside the window of her
tiny room at the nursing home.

It infects the room
where a dying man
is saying goodbye
to his photos on the wall.

It whispers in the ears
of a poet who writes
at four in the morning
when all the lights are out.

It ebbs and flows on
the restless waves
that send back empty shells
to a longing shore.

It burdens on the shoulders
of those who witness
injustice and evil
and say or do nothing.

It is the loudest music
no one can ever unhear,
holding words that could trumpet forth
and wake the world to sleepless sound.

By Niloufar Behrooz

Biography:

Niloufar Behrooz is a poet, writer, musician, and night owl. She holds a PhD in English Literature and is a university lecturer in Isfahan, Iran. Her work has appeared in Litro, Classical Poets Society, Parody, Wilderness Literary House Review, Lighten Up Online, Loch Raven Review, Literary Hatchet, World Haiku Review and elsewhere. You can find her on Instagram @niloufarbehrooz