The City Inside

Silence. The still of night interrupted only by the ticking of the clock from the hall wall. I close my eyes and hear everything that surrounds me. The running of water from the floor above. The wind moving through the trees outside, threatening to bring back the rain from the afternoon. Out in the hall the clock continues to tick methodically as if it alone can account for the earth spinning on its axis propelling each individual life forward.

The ticking is muted next to the sounds of someone flipping channels in the front room, the low mumbling of voices that all sound the same coming from the screen on the shelf. Yet the earth continues to spin.

The soft clicking of my keyboard; the sounds of my apartment. Quiet really, in comparison to the noise inside.

Inside of me is as loud and as a busy, congested New York street. Commotion and unrest seem to scream back and forth at each other from opposite sides of a heavily traffic-filled road. Horns honking, people yelling, dogs barking, crosswalks bleeping, engines revving, wind rustling; combined it is the sound of energy, the sound of life.

On that busy street are skyscrapers that could give you cramps in the neck if you tried to see the top of them. Every color of the rainbow is visible, and every aroma imaginable is combined together causing nearly a seizure of the senses. It is overwhelming; one hardly knows where to begin in the hubbub of this epicenter.

On the corner there is a large building with a marquee. The thoughts of the day flash across in red lettering faster than they can be conjured in the dark recesses of my mind. Thoughts of failure, of triumph, of trial and error, of practice, of patience.

Yet tonight, lying in my quiet surroundings, the noise of the city and the flashing of the marquee are causing insomnia.

The busyness pauses. The clock continues ticking. The world continues spinning. Tomorrow is a new dawn. The rain will come, washing the pavement. The winds will change, the blossoms will bloom. Time passes, hearts change. Experience will impact, memories will be made. In short, life goes on.

Tonight, lying in the quietness, I alone can tame the city inside. Tonight, the silence will win.