Quiet by Betty Elders

Quiet

Quiet sucks

It's always too loud when I'm

Hurting

Like the time

A double cheeseburger from McDonald's

Made me throw up until I couldn't

Stand up

And the only thing

Worse

Than the searing pain which

Tore through my gut

Each time I dragged myself to the sink was the

Quiet

Which provided no distraction

Left no question where the pain was

Last night I couldn't sleep

I lay awake with a huge

Quiet

So big that it spread

Across the covers

And up the wall to the ceiling

Until my room seemed about to burst from the

Fullness

Of it

Quiet

So loud

It nearly drowned out

The persistent rumble of a distant train

Quiet

So dark

It nearly squeezed out

What dim light the tiny

Lamp on my nightstand could afford

Quiet

So dense that

It barely contained the echoes of our last conversation

Then

Finally

When I could no longer take the quiet

I covered my ears and shouted your name into the stillness and

Quiet

Heard my cry for you and

Swallowed it like a

Gnat

~ by betty elders ~