listening

the other day
as i was standing and waiting for the bus
there was no wind blowing
it was about 7:00 a.m.
everything seemed compleatly silent

and then, it was like something lifted off my ears
some sort of veil that hadn't allowed me to hear correctly before

and suddenly i could hear EVERYTHING!
i could hear the bare tree branches rubbing together
i could hear the birds flying over my head
i could hear my mom talking to my dad, and she was still in the house
i could hear a little squeak from the snow as i shifted position and it was further compressed beneath my weight
i could hear cars coming, minutes before they actually appeared

i made me wonder
how much our ears must be deadened by the constant noise we create each and every day
i mean that's got to do something to them
muffle them or whatever

so i wonder, if we didn't make so much noise,
what we would actually hear.