There are voices everywhere They come from near and far Some speak softly, some speak loud Some keep on talking when the words have run out Everyone carries something Everyone wants to be heard And the air is filled with all their sounds But underneath it all there is a tone so low it can barely be heard Sometimes a signal rises that I don't recognize It moves a little closer, changes color, fills the room Can you hear? But I don't have to answer every tone I hear I don't have to follow every melody that calls to me There is a frequency that is mine It remains beneath the noise And I listen for it Some sound beautiful but stay too long Some voices feel warm but come too close It is hard to know where the music ends and it becomes too close So I listen Not to the words, but to the space between them I don't have to answer every tone I hear I don't have to follow every melody that calls to me There is a frequency that is mine It remains beneath the noise And I listen for it Maybe silence is not empty A pause, a breath, a tone allowed to fade before the next one begins The night settles down over other voices Someone is still singing, someone has gone home The air grows wider as the sounds grow quiet And there's somewhere between two tones I hear my own I don't have to answer every tone I hear I don't have to become part of every melody There is a frequency that is mine And it doesn't need to drown out anyone It only needs to be heard A tone, a pause, then silence And the tone remains
