There are all kinds of silences and each of them means a different thing. There is the silence that comes with morning in a forest, and this is different from the silence of a sleeping city. There is silence after a rainstorm, and before a rainstorm, and these are not the same. There is the silence of emptiness, the silence of fear, the silence of doubt. There is a certain silence that can emanate from a lifeless object as from a chair lately used, or from a piano with old dust upon its keys, or from anything that has answered to the need of a man, for pleasure or for work. This kind of silence can speak. Its voice may be melancholy, but it is not always so; for the chair may have been left by a laughing child or the last notes of the piano may have been raucous and gay. Whatever the mood or the circumstance, the essence of its quality may linger in the silence that follows. It is a soundless echo. Beryl Markham
About This Quote

The silence of a child in the forest is different from the silence in a city. The silence in a city is different from the silence in the forest. The silence in a forest is different from the silence in a city. The silence after a rainstorm is different from the silence before a rainstorm.

This kind of silence is not the same as the other kinds. Some kind of sound will be produced by it. It may be sad, but it may not always be so; for when there was laughter there was also sadness, and when there were music and happiness and joyful singing and dancing and flying and flying and playing and loving there was also sadness.

No matter what kind of sounds come out of it, the essence of its quality will linger in its soundless echo.

Source: West With The Night

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