There is a moment

There is a moment

When the air conditioning unit next door

Is louder

Than the Cicadas

The jackhammer from

The building site

A rhythmic punctuation

The Crows spit feathers

In exasperation

They sing doo-wop

Tickle the ivories with practised ease

But nimble jazz fingers

Are no match for heavy metal

Decibels

Inanimate objects

Engaged in noise appropriation

How silent a world it would be

Without the clamour of life

Would that we were more attentive

To the small sounds

When silence is as alien

As the noise of man is

To a desert rat

Born after World War two

Is it any wonder

Wild animals avoid first contact

There are good vibrations

Apparently soothing auras

Do exist

According to Gurus

Unless they are part of a package

Of alternate philosophies

Offered at a discount

When the practice of peaceful

Coexistence

Is just another sugar-coated

Bitter pill

Harder to swallow

Than a bottle full of snake oil

Who would choose to sell

A lie

Unless they had been the first

To buy one

Perhaps I should stop

Drinking from the bottle

As the aircon unit cuts out

Silence descends

Like manna from heaven

A golden moment of perfection

With only the creak

Of a weather vane

To prove that

I still do have my hearing

Proof positive

I am alive.