sometimes the voice is silenced
we don't know why
but those who feel the restraint of unutterable groans
stoop beneath the burdening weight

when there is prolonged silence the spirit searches
deeper than the shallow nursery pools of youth
it frequents the haunted places
the uninhabitable corners of space
where only those ripened in the sun and schooled in time
find gems among the wreckage and rubble of forgotten and overlooked

when words finally break through the surface of the water
they are poignant
and blessed
for they have swam in the salt reserved for those who have
felt the echo of empty
the sinking and settling of taciturnity

reserved until full with a significant air
they float to the top
not a bloated corpse
but alive
sputtering out the words formed deep within them
coughing for the chance to tell the story
before they return to the silence that will come again like a tide