hello darkness, my old friend,
i've come to talk with you again,
because a vision softly increeping,
left its seeds while i was sleeping,
and the vision that was planted in my brain
still remains within the sound of silence.

...

and in the naked light i saw
ten thousand people, maybe more.
people talking without speaking,
people hearing without listening,
people writing songs that voices never share
and no one dares to disturb the sound of silence.

...

and the people bowed and prayed
to the neon god they made.
and the sign flashed out its warning,
in the words that it was forming.
and the sign said, "the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
and tenement halls."
and whisper'd in the sounds of silence.

- paul simon -
"wednesday morning 3a.m.", 1964