What I Learned from Silence

I used to fill the space

With clever noise

Small talk

Half-truth

A practiced poise

Then quiet walked in

Didn't ask to stay

It just looked at me

And I looked away

Turns out stillness

Has better timing

Than I ever did

What I learned from silence

It doesn't care to teach

It just sits

Until I stop reaching

What I learned from silence

It never argues back

But somehow

I lose less

I mistook its patience

For something kind

But silence isn't kind

It's honest

And that's rarer

It hums beneath

Every apology

I never meant

Turns out stillness

Has sharper edges

Than any word I bit back

What I learned from silence

It knows my weight

Doesn't lift me

But it lets me wait

What I learned from silence

It stays after truth

And somehow

So do I

So do I