Silent Spring

                Rachel Carson was right after all. Almost six decades since her iconic environmentalist book “Silent Spring” was published, we are entering a season of strange and disconcerting soundlessness. In an ironic twist of fate, it turns out it is man and not nature that has been muted.

                There will be no groans of distress, grunts of effort and focus, nor shouts of joy on the athletic fields or in the pro-sports arenas this spring. There will be no umpire to yell “play ball!” No shrieks of joy as the Stanley Cup is proudly held aloft. There was no “March Madness,” only sadness and ennui. Tragically, there will be more of the same to come. Countless seniors in numerous winter and spring sports have been—and will be—stripped of the opportunity to compete for a championship and to be recognized on “senior night.” The Olympic Flame has been temporarily snuffed, the Summer Games postponed. Well, there’s always next year. Unless there isn’t.

                Hello darkness, my old friend

                I’ve come to talk with you again

                “Pomp and Circumstance” will not ring out across high school stadiums or college venues as joyful graduates receive their diplomas and degrees in front of their proud families and friends. Well, there’s always next year……strike that, maybe not.

                Because a vision softly creeping

                Left its seeds while I was sleeping

                Neither stadiums nor arenas, nor anyplace else, will thrill to the sounds of our favorite bands and musicians any time soon. Not in the COVID-19 Era. Those sounds you don’t hear coming from bars, restaurants, and brewpubs, would have been the clinking of glasses, the making of toasts and the telling of stories.

                And the vision that was planted in my brain

                Still remains

                Within the sound of silence

                Businesses and factories have been shut down. The hustle and bustle of city life hushed.

                “Ode to Joy” will not move throngs of marriage ceremony attendees to tears of elation, because there won’t be any sizeable marriage ceremonies. There will be no sermons in church, because there will be no public services. And there will be no gatherings at funerals, either. In the time of the coronavirus, you are not even allowed to say goodbye.

                And no one dared

                Disturb the sound of silence