Rambling Psychoses: The Most Perfect Silence

Back in early 1996, I came across a website called Jollyroger.com. It was devoted to the Great Books, Sonnets, and outstanding literature of all kinds.

I went to visit tonight, and found no trace of the original site. Every attempt ended with a page load error. So I conducted a search and found another site: Jollyrogerwest.com. Unfortunately, this one is on its last legs, with forums filled mostly with unkempt spam messages.

So sad to me is the demise of the "literary renaissance," and the death of the "literary resistance," that I conducted another search for one of my favorite poems published there, called "The Most Perfect Silence."

It turns out that someone had archived and published it on their site--so I've captured it and am publishing it as a tribute to Drake Raft, one of the founders of the "literary renaissance."

Here it T.I.issssssss:

======

The Most Perfect Silence

I know where the most perfect silence is,
Seen it in the wild blue off Hatteras,
A mile out, rainbowed sails in silent bliss,
Looked like they'd collide, but they safely passed.
I know when the most perfect silence is,
Down a dusty Ohio road, high noon,
No shirt on, being burned by the sun's kiss,
Sixteen, takin' my time-- it was still June.
I know what the most perfect silence is,
It's what we say when falling out of love,
It roars and thunders right through the kiss,
Says all that no words can ever speak of.
I know why the most perfect silence is,
It is there for the whisper to be born,
The whisper in her ear became the kiss,
Just a dream on the sea early one morn.
I know who the perfect silence is for,
It is for the ones whom we love the best,
It is there to protect them from our core,
By the silent trust we all seek to rest.
And I know how rare that silence can be,
With everyone talkin', it's hard to hear,
But I know I felt it, on the crests of waves,
The sound in her eyes-- it was crystal clear.
And it brought back to mind the rainbowed sails,
And the way it looked like they would collide,
Like two souls set upon fate's iron rails,
But the most perfect silence never died.

--Drake Raft