Silenced Gentrification
by Michael Doyle

The sanctimonious and the truly racist
Bleat on as they savagely persist.
Demanding urban stratification 
In lieu of what is deemed gentrification.

They claim that loving a bit of silence
Is tantamount to committing true violence
Against those too poor to find a solution 
And put an end to noise pollution.

This is really a matter of presentation
At least more than it is representation.
Because you see, there is grace in quietude.
To my ears, I offer it gratitude.

It is easier in its sweet simplicity, 
To find natural sounds greater than complexity.
Gentrification is not the case of rabid displacement.
Silence isn't silent in its embracement.

Artists enter the inner city like Johnny Appleseed
And just as suddenly it becomes about their needs.
Beauty and truth are found in the dreamer's hand,
This is something sociologists fail to understand.

Silence is not the world's fear of darkness. 
It is humanity's stand to hold back the harshness.
It is the mind separated from overwhelming society,
And finding peace instead of angst and anxiety.

You don't have to be rich to enjoy a closed window.
You don't have to love the light to disdain shadow.
The clattering soundtrack of life that never ceases 
Is not something that should be experienced in increases

More noise does not make a healthy society but is a mistake.
It is more than enough to make the nervous system shake.
To think there is something greater in the city's noise
Just reminds me that some need to find greater joys.

Those who fail to see this have missed the texture
That sound and light are the cosmic architecture.
And that in finding a bit of silence and quietude,
is something for which a thinking man finds gratitude.

(c) September 22, 2026   Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved