The Sound of Silence

I learned some time ago that silence has a sound.

It was late in the night and I was getting myself ready for bed. It was quiet all around when I started to hear the sound. A distinct high pitch which wouldn't go away even when I cupped my ears. I thought nothing of it and found it rather comforting to hear it in the darkest of nights.

But recently, the same sound of silence came to me in the broad daylight in a crowded restaurant. Only it was obviously louder as it rose above the din of chatters and clutter of cutleries on the plates.

I was nauseated and felt lightheaded. I lied down on a bench and closed my eyes hoping that the sound would leave me. What is this sound? Go away!!

But it wouldn't. It stayed in my ear like parasite. Alas, it was never the sound of silence that I heard. It  is and had always been tinnitus; I just didn't know it.

The Sound of Silence - Simon & Garfunkel