Quiet
Matilda (The Musical)
Have you ever wondered? Well, I have
About how when I say, say, red, for example
There's no way of knowing if red
Means the same thing in your head
As red means in my head
When someone says red?
And how if we are travelling
At almost the speed of light
And we're holding a light
That light would still travel away from us
At the full speed of light?
Which seems right in a way
But I'm trying to say I'm not sure
But I'm wondering inside my head
I'm not just a bit different from some of my friends
These answers that come into my mind unbidden
These stories delivered to me fully written
And when everyone shouts, they seem to like shouting
The noise in my head is incredibly loud
And I just wish they'd stop, my dad and my mum
And the telly and stories would stop just for once
I'm sorry, I'm not quite explaining it right
But this noise becomes anger, and the anger is light
And its burning inside me would usually fade
But it isn't today, and the heat and the shouting
And my heart is pounding, and my eyes are burning
And suddenly everything, everything is
Quiet
Like silence, but not really silent
Just that still sort of quiet
Like the sound of a page being turned in a book
Or a pause in a walk in the woods
Quiet
Like silence, but not really silent
Just that nice kind of quiet
Like the sound when you lie upside down in your bed
Just the sound of your heart in your head
And though the people around me
Their mouths are still moving
The words they are forming
Cannot reach me anymore
And it is quiet
And I am warm
Like I've sailed
Into the eye of the storm