Of Noise and Peace

This evening,

sitting in my cozy corner,

with soft music playing on the radio,

I felt a strange sense of peace

spread all around me, and

within myself.

Suddenly I heard,

the TV in the other room

was silent…shut.

All the accompanying noises, sorry,

‘sounds,’ were missing.

That’s it! I said to myself –

absence of noise is peace!

But why? Why did I call the TV sounds as ‘noise’

and the radio music – peaceful?

Point to ponder, isn’t it?

‘Noise,’ I feel, is the loud, distracting sounds,

something with which, we don’t feel involved.

Soft (radio) music, on the other hand,

rings its harmonious notes

through our nerves, unruffling them,

producing a strange soothing effect.

Sometimes the music rises up,

touching even the soul.

That, I understand, is the equation between

noise and peace!

********

Ashok Misra