Silence

I wrote this the other day, waiting for my lift back from my course. I hadn't heard from friends of mine in The Abroad for a while, and I knew what that meant from when Rich was out there. Some people didn't understand I was sad when I didn't hear from him, not because I hadn't heard from him, but because I knew what it meant for someone else. And now I know what it feels like for me to tell the AC, it's worse to know someone else is having to explain to a child that Daddy isn't coming home.



Silence

I can tell by the silence that bad news is on the way
There is no chime of email, no call to lift my day,
There is just the nothing, for there's nothing you can say,
I can tell by the silence that bad news is on the way.

It may not be my bad news, for I've had mine and more,
The knock has already fallen on my classroom door
But somewhere, someone else's wife is happy in her day
Not knowing and not thinking that bad news is on the way.

If I could stop it for them, then Lord you know I would
Sometimes it's hard to think that this is for the greater good.
Somewhere, someone else's son is just a child at play,
But a man he'll be tomorrow when bad news has come his way.

Lord, let the Hercules bring back whole strong men.
Even though we women know they won't be quite the same again.
Let them walk within their families as they go about their day,
Lord let the knock, the bad news, not be theirs today.