Quiet

Have you ever wondered
(well, I have)
About how when I say, say, "red"
(for example)
There's no way of knowing
If red means the same thing in your head
As red means in my head
When someone says "red".

And how, if we are travelling at
Almost the speed of light
And we're holding a light
That light would still travel away from us
At the full speed of light
Which seems right
In a way
But I'm trying to say.

I'm not sure
But I wonder if inside my head
I'm not just a bit different from
Some of my friends
These answers that come into my mind, unbidden
These stories delivered to me fully-written.

And when everyone shouts
(like they seem to like shouting)
The noise in my head is incredibly loud
And I just wish they'd stop
My dad and my mum
And the telly
And stories would stop for just once.

And I'm sorry
But I'm not quite explaining it right
But this noise becomes anger
And the anger is light
And this burning inside me would usually fade
But it isn't today
And the heat and the shouting
And my heart is pounding
And my eyes are burning
And suddenly, everything, everything is.

Quiet
Like silence, but not really silent
Just that still sort of
Quiet
Like the sound of a page being turned in a book
Or a pause in a walk in the woods.

Quiet
Like silence, but not really silent
Just that nice kind of
Quiet
Like the sound when you lie upside-down in your bed
Just the sound of your heart in your head.

And though the people around me
Their mouths are still moving
The words they are forming
Cannot reach me anymore.

And it is quiet
And I am warm
Like I've sailed
Into the eye of the storm.