[P. Simon, 1964]


Hello darkness, my old friend,

I've come to talk with you again,

Because a vision softly creeping,

Left its seeds while I was sleeping,

And the vision that was planted in my brain

Still remains

Within the sound of silence.


In restless dreams I walked alone

Narrow streets of cobblestone,

'Neath the halo of a street lamp,

I turned my collar to the cold and damp

When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light

That split the night

And touched the sound of silence.


.And the people bowed and prayed

To the neon god they made.

"Fools" said I, "You do not know

Silence like a cancer grows.


And in the naked light I saw

Ten thousand people, maybe more.

People talking without speaking,

People hearing without listening,


And the sign flashed out its warning,

In the words that it was forming.

, "The words of the prophets

are written on the subway walls

And tenement halls."

And whisper'd in the sounds of silence.


"Fools" said I, "You do not know

Silence like a cancer grows.

Hear my words that I might teach you,

Take my arms that I might reach you."