by Ted Onulak

Created on: August 01, 2009   Last Updated: August 02, 2009

As silent as flowers in a vase
Taking quiet sips of water
Wordlessly counting their last remaining days

Silent as the sunbeams
That glide noiselessly through the window
Escaping the cold white world
To kiss the bloom of spring
Prophesized for a distant tomorrow

The empty house stands mute
Devoid of tears and laughter
All voices have been stilled
Only a spider
Spins her web
Wordlessly working
For purposes obscure
Perhaps only just to pass the time

No telephone rings to trouble the dust
In the latest vacant house
Where the trash men were the last to wave goodbye
The stillness is disturbed
By a creeping car
With tattered seats and muddy tires
Enclosing the well-worn couple within

They look at the clapboards whistfully
Choosing not to speak

Inside the flowers softly tremble
The spider loses a stitch
Some fleeting cloud
Of a former life
Has disturbed the empty peace

The ignition sparks the engine
And the car grinds into reverse
Gravel pops against the metal
And life motors on

Somewhere hope lies sleeping
And walks softly as a spider on its web
Or grows beneath the earth like a flower

But at this moment
There is only silence

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