At times I wonder if when the music ends I’ll be able to embrace the silence. When voices run short of things to say, and only subtle whispers trail like wisps of smoke before they evanesce, if I can rest among them satisfied I’ve listened to them well.

It’s true I’ve grown accustomed to a tenor in the shade, a song that swells on ocean waves and lingers in the atmosphere descending on my ears and painting all my thoughts with grey. Will I have the erudition to retell what all was said without a choir to remind of the words?

I’d like to think I’ll be alright when all the sound is through. I’d like to find I’ve heard it right, and once the music’s gone the silence speaks in ways I might have understood.

#amsterdam #netherlands #westerkerk