Hello Common Council, my old friends I've come to talk with you again Because a Mayor softly creeping Abused his power while the people were sleeping And the outrage that was planted in my brain Still remains Within your sound of silence In restless dreams I walked alone Widened Oshkosh streets of torn-up cobblestone Beneath the halo of a sundial lamp I turned my collar to the cold and damp When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a web site light That split the night And touched your sound of silence And in the naked light I saw Three Council Meetings maybe more People talking without speaking People hearing without listening People writing letters you Silent Six never shared Not one of you dared Disturb your sound of silence "Fools," said I, "You do not know Silence like a cancer grows Hear my words that I might teach you Watch Commentary that I might reach you" But my words like Jackson St. trees fell And echoed in the wells of silence And the Council bowed and prayed To the un-popularly elected Mayor god they'd made And the Palmeri op-ed flashed out its warning In the words that it was forming And the op-ed said "The words of the state statutes are Written on the state capital walls And city halls And yet you whispered in your sounds of silence" Return to Commentary