Ok... so I knew my
Hearing was waning.
For years.
Little things like everyone
Mumbling.
Asking my family to
Repeat themselves.
Missing the jokes on late night.
I had tests.
You’re getting older. They said
It happens. I shrugged.
Really, deep down
I liked the quiet.
I was never one
For senseless chit-chat.
TV had become nonsensical,
Violent, ugly.
The news was always bad.
Silence was better
I believed.
And during Covid
Who was there to talk to
Anyway?
But then my life changed.
A move,
A new place,
New people,
Conversations that I
Couldn’t catch.
Humor that eluded me.
And a new doctor thought
It was time
To turn the sound back on.
I rolled my eyes and took
The test.
I shook my head as I spent the money,
An open admission of my dwindling
Ability
The appointment came.
Adjustments were made.
Notes were scribbled.
Tiny computers were placed.
Then, without warning…
BAM!
CARS.
HORNS.
TIRES CRUNCHING
PLATES CLATTERING
A thousand different NOISES
RAP, CLASSICAL, POP,
Children LAUGHING
SCREAMING.
Cats MEOWING.
Water RUSHING.
A cacophony of every
Imaginable SOUND
All filling my world.
Never really gone
Only muffled by my
Stubbornness.
“It may take some time to
Get used to the aids,”
My doctor murmured sympathetically.
It was true.
My life became a soundtrack
Of foot STEPS,
Gravel CRUNCHING.
Dogs BARKING.
The RUSTLE of leaves.
The SWISH of my clothes.
The WHIR of the air conditioner.
And suddenly s’s
And t’s
And m’s and n’s.
Were back.
Slat became flat.
Test became text.
Incense became immense.
Almost too much
To comprehend
What I had lost
Was now returned.
But did I want it?
The barks and rustles
And horns and whirs.
The clattering and clinking
Meowing and tinkling.
Then this morning
As I sat in the quiet of
My front porch,
Coffee in hand
I HEARD what I had been
Missing.
The longing call of a quail,
The trill of a finch,
The musical chittering of
Yellow birds,
The soothing coo’s of
Soft grey doves.
An orchestra so beautiful
So breathtaking, so perfect.
Sound of loveliness personified.
A distant plane,
My husband humming.
A lawn mower three blocks away.
A silence full of life and love
Sounds of my world
No longer shut out
But within my grasp.
A three-dimensional life
Complete with soundtrack.
A precious gift
To be unwrapped and listened to
Every day.
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