Once Upon A Time

When we were impressionably young
and the world was our mysterious
playground we clamoured in our
gatherings celebrating life in a wild
cacophony of sound, we squealed with
the pleasure of discovery, we rejoiced
as our curiosity was rewarded and we
resented being told we must be quiet
seen and not heard an impossible
imposition on the liberty of a child's
questing mind on the journey of life.
Eventually we discerned the utility of
silence as we interpreted our peers'
skill in non-verbal messaging enabling
communication between teens, hiding
it from our elders' probing eyesight.
When our own children were infants
we spoke in whispers lest we disturb
the peace of their slumbers and later
in modulated tones of instruction bade
them to think before speaking. Taken
in the round, life has shaped our voices
from the boisterous freedom of early
years to the considered impact of later
years' expressions of the words of life.