Silence............abscence of sound, abscence of meaning. Why is there no response to questions asked? Why is love dammed up like a great river held back from flowing freely? Tamed to the point of numbing ennui. No rush of waters, crash of waves against rocks, no quiet eddies straying to the frothing currents. Only slow monotonous treading of a relationship, left to dwindle into dying embers of a once warm and inviting glow between two lovers. Gone astray, grown away,Β Β to separate lives. Caring enough to maintain, not enough to transcend. Living in parallel worlds, never intertwining. Absence of sound, meaning, feeling. Unable to bear life without meaning, joy, anger, and love. Pondering the mechanisms, catalysts, for change.