Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping

Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains

Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams I walked alone

Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp

When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence


And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more

People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share

And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence


Fools
said I
You do not know

Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you

But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed
In the wells of silence


And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made

And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said

The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sounds of silence